Here’s a great After Action Report from Alex Sotheran, taken from the IABSM Facebook Group and Alex’s equally excellent Storm of Steel blog.
It’s Kursk 1943, and Alex plays through a solo game with the Germans attacking a Soviet-held village. There are plenty of “big cats” out to play, and there’s even a link to the YouTube video of the game.
Click on the picture below to see all. Highly recommended.
Here a set of pcitures taken from the IABSM Facebook Group showing moments from Rod Redden’s latest game. It’s Belgium 1944, and 11th Armoured Division with 1st Airborne support takes on 2nd SS Division.
Over the last couple of weeks, Des Darkin has been playing out an excellent looking game of I Ain’t Been Shot Mum on the IABSM Facebook Group.
I say IABSM, but Des has actually been playing using his variant I Ain’t Been CoC’d Mum Yet, which uses dice rather than card activation. That variant is available in the Lard 2019 Magazine.
Click on the picture below to a full AAR, combining the four posts that Des made as he played through the game…
With lockdown back upon us and Daughter #1’s boyfriend back at University, my only potential opponent for a battle was Daughter #2. A little bit of gentle arm-twisting persuaded her to abandon the questionable delights of K-Pop YouTube videos and join me in the wargaming room for a game of To The Strongest.
I wanted to use two of my newest armies: the Sumerians and the Marian Romans. I politely gave her the choice, thinking she was bound to go for the Sumerians with their exciting four-onager chariots, axemen etc, but instead she chose the more space-invader like Romans. I felt a little disappointed here, as I’d wanted to play them, especially as I know hoe good they are. Competitive Dad? Well, you have to take your victories where you can!
Both sides deployed. The Sumerians looked their usual impressive selves: the blocks of citizen spearmen supported by light infantry; the aforementioned chariots; and three units of axemen or archers.
The Romans, under the so-called Beardless Pro-Consul, looked a little ragged by comparison, which just shows that appearances can be deceptive:
Both sides opened the battle by advancing forward smartly.
In the centre, my heavy chariots headed straight for the oncoming Romans, hoping to hit them whilst they were deployed with gaps in their battle line. Apparently not all my chariot units were equally keen on getting stuck in, so there were holes in my line too, but I didn’t think this was a problem as I reckoned that being mounted meant that any stragglers would catch up fast.
On my right flank, some equites saggiarii tried to sneak past my flank, but were blocked and eventually destroyed by my lights:
On my left, however, two units of Gallic Cavalry had a bit more room to play with, getting past my flank, and causing me (along with some Cretan archers) huge problems for the rest of the battle.
Note the Gallic horse right out on the right of the picture. They have got past my flank and forced me to deploy my reserve to face them.
Back to the centre, and the two lines came together with a mighty crash. Unfortunately, the mighty crash mostly involved smashing chariots as, using their excellent manoeuvrability, the Roman legionaries snapped into an unbroken and pilum-toting line of heavy infantry. Who new Daughter #2 knew what she was doing!
I pulled back in an attempt to re-organise but, of course, this just gave the Romans a chance to reorganise themselves and to then slam forward once more, again using their quality and agility to always be in the right place at the right time with the right units. I tell you, if you can’t get round the flank of the Romans (which I had singularly failed to do) then you are in big trouble: the Roman mincing machine makes, er, mincemeat out of anything it faces!
Here’s a series of pictures showing what happened in the centre:
I did have a couple of light units pushing past the Roman left flank but all that happened was that one double cohort of legionaries swung neatly sideways to face them, and without the help of the other light unit (who had been previously occupied in finishing off the horse archers) I was not going to get anywhere anytime soon.
But it was on my left flank that I was most in trouble.
I had managed to get my reserve into play in order to head off one lot of Gauls from rolling me up but, just at the critical moment, luck deserted me, and two of my brigades drew consecutive Aces at the start of their activations.
This left me unable to get anything done, and the Gauls closed in, hitting my blocking force from both front and back:
And that, really, was that: my left collapsed, my centre crumpled and I haemorrhaged coins faster than you can say “bloody Romans”!
A great game of To The Strongest despite my somewhat embarrassing defeat! Showcased how good the Romans can be in a straight up fight where their flanks are safe.
Here’s a great battle report from Dan Albrecht and friends, first published on the IABSM Facebook Group.
The game is taken from the Falaise Firestorm scenanario book from Skirmish Campaigns, and involves action around Mount Ormel in the Falaise Gap.
Click on the pic below to see all:
Here’s another I Ain’t Been Shot Mum battle report from the A Wargamer in Cyprus blog. It’s another adaptation of one of the scenarios from the Operation Compass scenario pack: a third scenario from the Australian assault on the Italian fortress of Bardia.
16th Australian Infantry Brigade are within the Italian perimeter and have made some progress against a fairly irresolute defence. The Aussies have followed a wadi and discovered a second line of Italian defences ready for them. Click on the picture below to see what happens next:
After the battle for Cookham Moor, the Parliamentarians have retreated in some disarray: falling back to a position where their rear and one flank is protected by the river Thames.
This protection, however, forms two sides of a potential cage, so the Royalists have hurried forward to do battle again, knowing that if the Roundheads break, there is nowhere, at least on two sides, for them to run.
Could this finally be the decisive battle that both sides have been seeking?
The action takes place on Cock Marsh: a bleak, wind-swept area of open ground between Winter Hill and the Thames. The lower slope of Winter Hill borders the south side of the battlefield. The north and part of the east side of the battlefield are bordered by the Thames i.e. impassable terrain. Any unit that is forced off-table into the Thames is lost.
The main part of the tabletop consists of moorland separated by hedgerows and the odd patch of trees. All hedgerows count as linear rough terrain. All wooded squares count as rough terrain. There are two Iron Age burial mounds on the Parliamentarian side of the field.
Cock Marsh is a bleak and featureless place.
I would play the Roundheads, John would play the Cavaliers.
Scottish mercenaries good for an initial, ferocious charge, but largely useless after that!
The yellow Meeple indicates an Untried unit i.e. one that must test morale the first time that it sees action of any kind.
My plan was to sweep forward with my four units of Dutch Horse and smash the Royalist Swedish Horse from the field. The Cavalerie would then be free to turn and roll up the Royalist line.
I had, however, forgotten that Swedish Horse (like the units opposite me) are not inferior to Dutch Horse, just different. As John said afterwards: “You threw away your cavalry by attacking my best units head on”. Thank you, John, for your words of wisdom!
The red Meeples represent Veteran units, and that’s more Scottish mercenaries on screen as well.
He obviously didn’t think standing on a burial mound presaged the outcome of the battle!
A cavalry brigade (Swedish Horse and Dragoons); plus a unit of pike-only foot from the neighbouring foot brigade.
The pikemen appear to be impersonating Scots mercenaries: a cunning ploy!
Quite a few of them…and is that the Oxford Musketeers Commanded Shot I see at the back (with the blue and white stripey flag). Evil buggers who have stuffed me several times before!
Look how weak it looks compared to my glorious Cavalerie.
Appearances can be deceptive!
Everything looks good so far…
One squadron of my Dutch Horse disappears, as does one squadron of Royalist Swedish Horse.
I was rather hoping the Highlanders would make short work of the Dragoons, but they end the turn honours even (the two units with the red disordered markers on them).
The rest of the Highlanders wait for the enemy Swedish Horse to charge. Come on: if you think you’re hard enough!
…and it’s all gone horribly wrong.
Only one squadron of Dutch Horse left, and they are double-disordered, and there are still two enemy cavalry squadrons existent.
The two sides have moved towards each other. The only difference between this point and the start of the battle is that I’ve lost (read: thrown away) three squadrons of Dutch Horse worth nine victory coins (about half my supply).
This is where my men started to divide themselves into those who could swim and those who could not!
And I’ve let a gap appear in my infantry line, leaving one Scottish pike unit isolated.
My Highlanders and John’s cavalry just about wipe each other out…but I can’t afford to lose many more coins!
And here’s where the cards deserted me as well: you’ll notice that my battalia seem to be double-disordered versus the Royalists’ single disorder.
I forget which one of my units broke, but this photo was taken just before they did, costing me my last victory medal.
I’d like to say that my (extremely heavy) defeat was all my fault, but that would be to underplay John’s skill at exploiting my errors.
I am now writing out one hundred times "Do not throw away your cavalry on a frontal charge against even or worse odds” whilst Sit Christopher and his surviving men drag themselves out of the water on the far side of the river!
A great game of For King & Parliament despite my defeat: 150 points a side played out in just over 90 minutes.
Robert Avery
Here’s a great I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum AAR from Tim Whitworth and his friends at The War Room featuring the second scenario from the Anzio ‘Wildcat to Whale’ scenario pack.
At dawn on 25th January 1944, the Guards Brigade, headed by Number 1 Company of the Grenadiers and with Shermans from one squadron of 46th Royal Tank Regiment (crewed mainly by Welshmen from Liverpool) in support headed back towards Aprilia. Using the embankment of the disused railway line (the “Bowling Alley”) as their start point, they first had to take Carroceto.
Click on the picture below to see how they did…
Here’s a great little battle report from Julian Whippy and friends, taken from the IABSM Facebook Group, featuring a game they managed to put on despite the current COVID restrictions.
Click on the picture below to see all:
Here’s another After Action Report from the A Wargamer in Cyprus blog. It’s a Western Desert scenario taken from the Operation Compass scenario pack and is actually the second time that AWIC has played through the game.
Click on the picture below to see all:
After the encounter at Whyteladyes Lane, the Royalists retreated to the small hamlet of Cookham. The Parliamentarians, however, rather than withdrawing to regroup, have followed them.
Cookham, a pleasant place mostly home to farm labourers, is split by the Moor: an open piece of land crossed one way by a small stream, Strand Water, and the other way by Dean Lane, now more of a road.
Unwilling to surrender the Moor, “Little John” Boulters leads his men forwards to the eastern edge of the open ground only to see Sir Christopher and his men just arriving on the other side. The stage is set for another epic For King & Parliament clash!
I would command the Roundheads, John would lead the Cavaliers.
Two brigades of foot in the centre, a brigade of horse on each wing, guns and a bodyguard unit of cuirassiers also in the centre.
A brigade of foot, a brigade of Scots mercenaries, a brigade of Dutch horse.
Is on the Parliamentarian right.
One squadron of Dutch horse finds itself isolated on the wrong side of a hedge.
The Highlanders just emerging from the splash-through stream will move forward and will be charged by the enemy cuirassiers.
And I have established a decent line of battle against a more fragmented Royalist advance.
But they just won’t budge for many turns (I suspect their commander, Sir Kavan Nelson, defected to the Royalist cause) leaving me fatally weak in the centre.
But, again, having lost their Colonel, I just can’t get them to move forward. My army appears paralysed, and the Royalists are about to take full advantage!
But because Sir Kavan won’t move his men forward, I am outnumbered!
It’s six units to four, and two of my battalia are Highlanders that have spent their first, ferocious charge!
Losing a pike-n-shot battalia and a General in one turn is a good way to shed coins fast!
And that’s where I ran out of coins!
Well that was a game that was really going my way when a sudden paralysis amongst my troops caused by the loss of my Colonel of Cavalerie and Sir Kavan’s defection (I can see no other explanation as to why Aces suddenly appeared all over his brigade!) meant that the Roylaists were given a chance to rally, catch their breath, and then move forward and concenrate their numbers with devastating effect.
It didn’t help that my CinC, Sir Christopher, led a sorely-needed Scots mercenary battalia on a complete Jeb Stuart-like perambulation up the wrong side of the left hand wood, effectively taking them out of the battle at the moment of decision. That was deffo my fault though!
A great game that saw John keeping his nerve as I scored early successes, pulling back and then seeing an opportunity and taking full advantage. Just to emphasise the point: at one stage of the game (after the early clashes) I was something like eight coins in front!
Time for the Parliamentarians to retreat and regroup!
Robert Avery
What with COVID-19 putting paid to wargaming shows across the country, it’s good to see some remote events still taking place. One such that happened last weekend was Virtual Lard 3, and one game run there was an I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum scenario by Mike Whitaker.
The game was set in the Italian theatre. Here are some photos:
Lumbering Battlefront SturmPanzer IV approaching between Battlefront (left) and Tom Grenfell resin (right) walls.
Windmill: Najewitz 3D model, printed by Tom Grenfell.
Ruin/medical post to left of Battlefront church, and church walls: tabletop-arts.de resin
Town hall: unknown ebay resin.
Building with balcony: Empires at War
Building with creeper (centre left): CR Ninive resin
Kubelwagen and staff car: 3D prints from https://www.thingiverse.com/m_bergman designs
Orange shuttered building in rear is Najewitz 3D design printed by Tom Grenfell.
Church: Battlefront
Churchyard walls, ruined building just to right of spire, building to right of town hall: tabletop-art.de resin
Single story barn just N of that: Najewitz 3D print courtesy of Tom Grenfell (as is the building hidden by the spire)
Buildings, left to right/top to bottom:
Farm: Empires at War MDF, heavily fillered
Odd square building: unknown eBay resin
Twin roofed house by bridge: C R Ninive resin
Single story with courtyard: 3d print, own design
Town hall: unknown eBay
Two story with lots of windows: unknown eBay
Another own design 3d print
Another C R Nivive resin
Pair of Empires at War MDF
Small house at corner of walls: own design 3d print
Large house at bottom: unknown eBay
Time for the next encounter in my North Wessex For King & Parliament English Civil War campaign.
After the battle just north of Bisham Abbey, Sir Christopher Grey has led his Parliamentarian army (reinforced with more Scots mercenaries) east in an attempt to loop around the Royalists whom, he believes, are regrouping before moving north on their existing axis of attack.
The Roundheads get as far as Cookham Dean before they realise that the Cavaliers have been tipped off and have managed to get a blocking force across the Parliamentarian line of advance.
Battle will once more be joined!
The Parliamentarians (commanded by Yours Truly) advance in column from the top of the table. The Royalists, commanded by John, lie in wait athwart Deans Lane. Whyteladyes Lane is the road, bottom right, running into Dean’s Lane.
At the head of the column is a Highlander battalia: some of MacLeod’s Oathmen. They are followed by three Scottish standard battalia and then a brigade of English foot. The Parliamentarian horse is to the right of the column (left as you look at the photograph) moving along a smaller lane in an attempt to avoid congestion.
Two brigades of infantry, one of them pike-heavy; two brigades of horse, one each side of the infantry.
Note the Oxford Musketeers on the right. This commanded shot battalia would go on to destroy almost the entire Scottish pike element.
Scots at the front, English behind, Dutch horse on the far side!
The battle opened with the horse on both sides moving forward.
The Roundhead Dutch horse started the game quite far from the action, so needed to get up to the schwerpunkt as fast as possible: in the event, two units managed to do so, but one got slightly left behind.
Likewise, the Royalist right flank horse brigade (Stafferton’s Brigade) started the game behind the main infantry line, so needed to thread their way through to the centre.
Note that the lead Highlander unit has already destroyed the Royalist Forlorn Hope (“Gauldie’s Men”) but got themselves disordered in the process.
The Red Meeples represent veteran units. The blue dice are Dash, the white dice are Ammo.
The Royalist horse move left whilst the Parliamentarians desperately try to sort themselves out. Moving from column to line in a restricted space is proving difficult!
Meanwhile the other Royalist horse face off against their Dutch opposition.
Note the Oxford Musketeers on the far side have crossed the hedge.
No matter who initiates the charge, the Royalist Swedish horse (whilst they still have dash) always have the initiative.
Note that the Parliamentarians are going up a gentle hill.
The 1st Cookham Militia confront some of MacLeod’s mercenary Scots.
Derrick’s Horse confront another of MacLeod’s battalia.
At the top of the picture, the Oxford Musketeers have turned to outflank the Scottish line and blown away the first of MacLeod’s pike battalia.
At the bottom, Derrick’s Horse have been destroyed.
…and are keeping the second from interfering with the demise of the Scots.
The Oxford Musketeers have blown away a second Scottish battalia, with the third and final Scottish battalia destroyed by one of the Cookham Militia units.
Things are not looking good for Cromwell’s lot!
But the Parliamentarians have already forfeited a lot of coins and (to the right) the Royalists have battalia in reserve.
At this point the Parliamentarians finally ran out of coins and I was forced to admit defeat: a fairly crushing defeat!
It had been a great game, even if I had lost!
The truth was that I never really got the Parliamentary battle line properly sorted, which allowed the Royalists to defeat my brigades piecemeal. Annoying, as before the battle I’d specifically told John that I needed to avoid that happening!
Robert Avery
Here’s another After Action Report from the A Wargamer in Cyprus blog. It’s a Western Desert scenario, but not one taken from the Operation Compass scenario book..
Click on the picture below to see all:
Here’s another great 6mm I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum battle report from Mark Luther, fought remotely due to the C19 lockdown.
The encounter is based on the lopsided engagement in the area between Step' and Hill 227.9 on the morning of July 6, 1943 involving the 107th Tank Brigade and the StuG IIIs of StuG Abt. 245 and off-table Tigers of s.Pz. Abt .505.
Click on the picture below to see all:
Here’s another great battle report from the A Wargamer in Cyprus website featuring a game of I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum taken from the Operation Compass scenario pack.
It’s 14th September 1940, and the Italians have finally begun their invasion of Egypt. A huge column of Italians - motorcyclists in front, followed by infantry in trucks, followed by tanks - has streamed across the border in almost a parade ground formation. Five divisions-worth heading into Egypt.
In front of them is a mixed force of British troops - infantry, artillery and tanks - with orders to slow them down. Click on the picture below to see what happened:
Over the years, various people have adapted the TooFatLardies' company-level rules I Ain't Been Shot, Mum (WW2) and Charlie Don't Surf (Vietnam) for other, more modern periods.
One such adaptation, never officially published, was I Ain’t Been Nuked Mum. Here’s a battle report from 2015 taken from the now unfortunately moribund Maxim to Milan blog imagining action from the Cold War of the 1970’s.
The scenario is an attack-defence scenario based on a West German counter-attack after Soviet forces had been halted by NATO resistance.
Click on the pic below to see all.
Blogger “A Wargamer in Cyprus” has been playing through the Operation Compass scenario pack. I haven’t been able to get hold of him to ask permission, so I hope he doesn’t mind, but here’s a quick report of his game using a slightly amended version of Scenario #01: The Road to Fort Capuzzo.
Hostilities have just been declared, and the 11th Hussars are on the rampage. Click on the picture below to see all:
Time for another go at For King & Parliament, and the fifth scenario in my North Wessex campaign: Bisham Abbey.
After the last clash at Burchett’s Green, both sides have withdrawn to regroup and reform.
With “Little John” Boulters remaining in command whilst his father still recovers from wounds received at Widbrooke Common, the Royalists are bolstered by the return of the troops from Maidenhythe, hitherto sequestered by the King in Oxford. The Roundheads also receive reinforcements in the shape of a brigade of mercenary Scots troops under Colonel Macintosh MacLeod, and Sir Christopher (overall commander) is finally persuaded to lead from the back rather than the front!
The Royalists are ready to move first: marching north towards Marlowe. The Parliamentarians are ready for them, however, blocking their path just north of Bisham Abbey, a monastery-turned-manor-house that sits on the banks of the Thames.
The table from the Parliamentarian side
The Royalist army, ably commanded by my friend John, consisted of four brigades. On the right was Col. Stafferton’s brigade of horse (two units of Swedish horse); to their left was Col. Spencer’s brigade of foot (the Cookham Militia, three battalia); to their left was Col. Sir William Ray’s brigade of foot (two standard battalia - the Maidenhythe Foot - and the Oxford Musketeers, a commanded shot battalia); and finally, on the far left, was Gen. Derrick’s brigade of horse (three units of Swedish horse).
The Royalist commander ponders his plans
The Parliamentarians, with Yours Truly in command, consisted of only three brigades. The Cavalerie, on the right, were led by Col. Hurst, and consisted of three squadrons of Dutch horse. Next to them, in the centre, were Gen. Nelson’s three battalia of infantry supported by the guns of Littler’s Battery. Finally, on the left, were the three battalia of mercenary pike under Col. MacLeod. A Forlorn Hope was positioned in the small hamlet of Bisham, mid-way between the battle lines.
MacLeod’s Scots in the dawn light. Well, we started at 9am, which is pretty dawn-like for a Sunday!
My plan was to pivot on the mercenary Scots, sending my horse forward as quickly as possible to smash through his lighter Swedish-types and then curl around the rear of the Royalist army. I would give up the distant hedge on the left, but take the nearer hedge in the centre.
As this was only John’s second game of FK&P, his plan was to advance generally across his entire front and see what happened when the enemy was encountered!
The red Meeples indicate veteran units.
The Parliamentarian coup de grace was administered by Sunnybank’s commanded shot and the Scottish mercenaries. Between them they utterly destroyed the Royalist 2nd Foot Brigade (the Maidenhythe Foot and Oxford Musketeers) which, added to the coins lost when the Royalist horse and artillery evaporated under the tender ministrations of Grey’s Cavalerie, finally emptied the King’s coffers!
In the end, my plan had worked, albeit with several road bumps on the way. I lost three of my command stands, and would have been gradually overwhelmed if it hadn’t been for the extraordinary fight shown by the 3rd Grey’s Cavalerie (the only non-veteran unit in the brigade, obviously). They turned the tide of the battle, with the Scots then digging in their heels and refusing to be broken.
All in all, another great game of FK&P!
Here’s another great little battle report from Chris Lane, taken from the IABSM Facebook Group, and featuring more action in Malaya.
Here a British probing attack gets tangled with Japanese pickets. Click on the picture below to see what happens…
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)
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.
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