TooFatLardies Oddcast, Episode 3

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The third in the series of TFL Oddcasts is now available: and this time it's uploaded onto YouTube.

Back from their European Road Trip, the chaps discuss what stimulates the development of a new rule set as well as what's on their workbench and a trip to the Lard Island Library for some suitable reading.

Also featured: Nick fancies a 200lb Beaver, Rich discovers what a quadrilogy is, and Sidney talks about his time on the set of the A-Team.

To hear it all:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSTjpTzofB8

 

IABSM AAR: Jandrain

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Here's a quick and somewhat fuzzily-photographed IABSM microarmour AAR from Mark Luther, this one covering action in France 1940 as the French counteract with Somua tanks.

Click on the pic below to see all:

Mark based the game on another AAR from this site: this one from Brian Cantwell. You can see Brian's version (in 15mm) by clicking on the pic below (opens in a new link).

And now a quick request.

I am running out of battle reports to post up here on Vis Lardica. 

I am getting the occasional report sent direct to me for posting, and many individuals are kind enough to have allowed me re-posting rights to their blog entries, but it is becoming more and more difficult to keep the flow of reports coming.

So here's the request: if you are playing one of the TFL games covered by Vis Lardica*, and don't have a blog of your own or anything like that, take a few pictures of the action, scrawl down a few notes on what happened, or even just captions to the pictures, and send the lot through to me at admin@vislardica.com. Don't worry about format or tidiness or anything like that: I can turn the raw content into a report for you.

That way you have a record of the games that you have played, a record that you can come back to and browse anytime you feel like it. I certainly enjoy reminding myself occasionally of the great tabletop encounters I've enjoyed in the past, and judging by the traffic stats for the site, so do the rest of you!

So don't delay and get scribbling!

*The site covers TFL's company-sized games - I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! (WW2); Charlie Don't Surf! (Vietnam); and Quadrant 13 (sci-fi) - along with their variants Rock the Casbah (the Arab/Israeli wars of the '70s);  B'Maso (Africa in the 60's) and the various adaptions for Moderns.

Finally, one thing that did catch my eye earlier today...

I was trawling the Internet looking for interesting wargames content to read, and came across a Russian-language site with a battle report on it. A quick Google translate came up with the usual pidgin English, but one sentence particularly caught my eye:

"well, where in the truhistori vargeim without homruli"

It's like reading Chaucer, or listening to Grendel/Grendel's Mother speak in the Ray Winstone Beowulf film, but expresses a sentiment we should all take to heart: is a wargame truly a wargame without home rules!  

 

TooFatLardies Oddcast, Episode Two

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The second TFL Oddcast is now available for download.

This time, the terrible trio of Big Rich, Nick and Sid took the advantage of a long drive to Crisis in Antwerp to discuss their hopes for the show and, the big issue of the oddcast, their experiences walking battlefields and how that relates to their wargaming.

Click here to download the Oddcast.

Flashback to the TFL trip to Crisis in 2011. Here our brave boys are actually at Les Attaques in Calais, featured as one of the scenarios in the IABSM 'Defence of Calais' scenario pack

TooFatLardies Oddcast: Volume One

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As nearly all the content on this site is based on rules from the TooFatLardies, we like to keep you all abreast of what they are up to. One new thing they are doing is a series of "Oddcasts": like podcasts, only Lardier.

Rich, me, Nick at the 2011 Tobruk Games Day at Lard HQ

Here's the announcement from Lard Island News:

"Looking to keep abreast of what is happening on Lard Island?  Well, here’s a new way to do so with the Lardy Oddcast, a semi-regular show hosted by international wargaming celebrity and well known washing-line Commando, Sidney Roundwood. 

"This show, recorded in the Lard Island Broadcasting Studios on London’s Drury Lane, focuses on telling us what we can expect in future and talking to the two men behind TooFatLardies, Richard Clarke and Nick Skinner, and asking them to give their view on what Lard means to them."

This first Oddcast is a really good discussion of the philosophy behind rulesets such as I Ain't Been Shot, Mum!, Chain of Command, and Sharp Practice, with none of the "well, then I rolled a one, and he rolled a four" tedium that seems to have beset certain other podcasts of late. 

You can find the Oddcast here:  http://toofatlardies.co.uk/blog/?p=7046

Doubtless for future podcasts they will want to call upon the talents of one who has written more scenarios for IABSM than any other...

CoC: 'Citadel, the Breakthrough' Pint-Sized Campaign Released

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Although this site concentrates on the company-sized games from the TooFatLardies, I like to keep you all abreast of their other activity. Today, for example, saw the release of the Citadel, the Breakthrough pint-sized campaign for Chain of Command.

In Rich's own words:

"This Pint Sized Campaign for Chain of Command is the second covering the decisive battle of Kursk in 1943.  The action here covers the attack of the Grossdeutschland Division on the Soviet Second Defensive Line.  This key action will either see the Germans breakthrough and head onwards for Kursk, or be stopped by the Soviets; whoever wins will seize the initiative in the East for the rest of the year and possibly change the course of the war.

"Six battlefields provide a campaign which sees the Germans attacking and the Soviets but with the Russians counter-attacking to buy time.  This campaign can be fought as a stand-alone series of games or can be played as a continuation from the first Kursk Pint Size Campaign, Storming the Citadel.

"This classic Pint Sized Campaign is designed to be run using the campaign rules in At the Sharp End and with Chain of Command rules.  Can you seize the initiative and put the Soviets on the back foot while you build up your defences or can you keep up the momentum of the attacks in the East as you drive relentlessly towards Berlin?

"Thirty-two pages long, this Pint Sized campaign provides the background history to the campaign with situation maps.  Uses period maps to show the location of the actions and then provides a complete campaign with forces for both sides, support options for players to select from and full victory conditions for all six battles and the campaign as a whole."

At time of publishing, Citadel was on sale for only £3.80: actually less than the price of a pint in some of the places I go!

You can order and download your copy by clicking here. 

Summer Special 2017 Arrives

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This year's TFL Summer Special is now published and available for purchase. Here's Big Rich on what's in it:

"Stop all the clocks, cut off the telephone,
Prevent the dog from barking with a juicy bone,
Silence the pianos and with muffled drum
Because the Summer Special has arrived!

"So, allegedly, said W.H. Auden when we released the contents list of one of our earlier Specials and this one is just as packed with Lardy fun as any we have seen before with great scenarios, rule ideas and variants and plenty for Lardies old and new to enjoy.

"Let’s take a look at the contents:

  • Flashman and the Emperor: Give yourself top billing as you step into the shoes of Harry Flashman. Can you guide our hero to a safe outcome in this campaign-launching tale of derring-do set in Mexico in 1867.  Will Harry Save the Emperor Maximilian or will he face an untimely death at the hands of the Juaristas?
  • Holding the Line:  Internationally famous wargaming celebrity and lover of gnomes, Mike Hobbs and his chums take us to Normandy 1944 for this Chain of Command scenario with some fun rules additions to tickle your fancy.
  • Sacker of Cities: If the only Homer you know is on the Simpsons, allow “The Colonel” Dave Parker to introduce you to the excellent Trojan Wars expansion for Dux Britanniarum produced by the intellectual giant which is the Durham Wargames Club. “Beware the Wrath of the Gods” says Dave.  I have enough trouble keeping the missus happy…
  • 1745:  David Hunter leaves the safety of the Crossroads Motel and parties like it’s 1745, taking Sharp Practice for a Highland Reel north of the border with unit Rosters and rule adjustments for the Jacobite Rebellion.
  • Cracking the Westwall: Big Rich heads for the Siegfried Line and reveals all you could ever want to know and more about this vision in concrete.
  • Build a Bunker: Inspired by his research, Big Rich shares a step-by-step guide of how to turn polystyrene to concrete.
  • Achtung! Big Rich completes his West Wall trio with a bunker assault scenario for Chain of Command.  Pick your squad, choose your tools and see if you can break through the West Wall.
  • Using Field of Glory Renaissance Armies in Sharp Practice. In the first of our two articles looking at extending Sharp Practice into the age of Pike and Shot, Carole gives us some interesting rule suggestions as she expands Sharp Practice for her evil ends.
  • The Battle of Frank Sanbeans Farm:  This ACW Sharp Practice scenario from Jim Ibbotson, as seen at OML5, wins an award for the worst ever punning title for a game, but we forgive him for his wonderful brush-work.
  • Action in the Valle Delle Marie A hard fighting scenario for I Aint Been Shot Mum from the pen of Mike Whitaker as he heads for the hills and valleys of la bella Italia.
  • LRRP teams in Charlie Don’t Surf:  Charles Eckhart gives top tips on using LRRPS in CDS, plus a scenario to test your new skills.  Can you find Charlie?
  • The Attack on Sochaczew:  Robert Avery pushes his panzers to the limit with an Early War scenario for I Ain’t Been Shot Mum
  • The Bridge at Saindoux:  Fat Nick goes Commando with a scenario for Chain of Command and the outcome is, predictably, explosive.
  • Unternehmen Rollshufahren.  An German airborne assault on a critical British installation see the LDV fighting for their lives as criminal elements assist the naughty Nazis in this Operation Sea Lion scenario for Chain of Command.  Nothing if not topical!
  • Sharply Buffed:  Our second foray into Pike and Shot with rule ideas and force rosters from Nick Worthington
  • Sharpening Up I Ain’t Been Shot Mum:  Frugal Scot Wee Derek Hodge squeezes two rule sets into one Page in a remarkable fusion of ideas.
  • The Roundwood Report Sidney brings up the rear with a topical look at Command and Control the key trends in the hobby.

"At 123 pages in total this is packed with some great ideas as well as the usual mix of scenarios and other Lard-based fun.  When we first produced the Specials in 2004 we tried to make them the best value in wargaming.  Thirteen years on we are still doing the same, holding the price at just £6 for the sixth year running."

You can buy the Special by clicking here or on the picture of the front cover, above.

New CoC Pint-Sized Campaign: Bloody Bucket

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Although this site tends to cocentrate on the company-sized games from the TooFatLardies (IABSM, CDS, Q13), we do like to promote new releases for their other systems.

Here, then, is the latest pint-sized campaign for Chain of Command:  Bloody Bucket. Here's the blurb:

"This Pint Sized Campaign for Chain of Command is the first covering the battle of the Bulge.  The action here covers the initial German attack against the US 28th Infantry Division as the 26th Volksgrenadier Division attempt to clear the ground between the Our and Clerf Rivers in preparation for Panzer Lehr’s advance on Bastogne.  What followed was three days of epic action which destroyed the German chances of victory.

Six battlefields provide a campaign which sees the Germans attacking and infiltrating to isolate the US defenders, initially with infantry but soon with armoured support while a gallant band of men fight on to the end.

This classic Pint Sized Campaign is designed to be run using the campaign rules in At the Sharp End and with Chain of Command rules.  Can you break through and open the route to the Meuse and Antwerp, or will you make an heroic stand and halt Hitler’s lunatic vision of victory in the West?

Thirty-two pages long, this Pint Sized campaign provides the background history to the campaign with situation maps.  Uses period maps to show the location of the actions and then provides a complete campaign with forces for both sides, support options for players to select from and full victory conditions for all six battles and the campaign as a whole."

Click here or on the picture of the front cover to buy "Bloody Bucket".

Back from Operation Market Larden 2017

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Sorry for the lack of posts recently: been working and training and going out-ing hard over the last week or so, so have had neither the time nor the energy to update properly.

Anyhoo, leaving that aside, yesterday was the annual Operation Market Larden games day organised by Ade Deacon and the other Wyvern wargamers.

For me, this involved an hour's sorting and packing the car on Friday night, then leaving the house at 6.30 on Saturday to get up to Evesham to get everything set up for the two games of IABSM that I was due to run.

As usual, it was a brilliant and well-run day of gaming followed by a delicious curry and plenty of drinking. My thanks to all the Lardies who attended and made it such a good day (and evening!) and especially to Ade and the other organisers.

I'll write up the two games that I ran later this week, but in the meantime here's some pictures from the day unashamedly "borrowed" from the TFL Facebook page:

CoC: Storming the Citadel

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Although this site is mostly dedicated to the TFL company-sized games (IABSM, CDS, Q13) I like to publicise what else is going on at Lard Island. It therefore gives me great pleasure to announce the publication of the latest pint-sized campaign for Chain of Command, the platoon-sized WW2 game.

Here's what the TFL website says about Storming the Citadel:

"This Pint Sized Campaign for Chain of Command is the first covering the attack of PanzerGrenadier Division Grossdeutschland at Kursk.  The action here covers the build up to the attack, with actions in no-man’s-land as the Germans attempt to seize observation posts and clear minefields, followed by the first day of this epic battle as the Germans storm through the Soviet outpost line and the first line of defences.

"Six battlefields provide a campaign up to ten games long, by which point you’ll have a clear winner and be set up for the next campaign in the series which is already being prepared and follows Grossdeutschland into the second line of Russian defences and attempting to break into open ground beyond.

"This classic Pint Sized Campaign is designed to be run using the campaign rules in At the Sharp End and with Chain of Command rules.  Can you breach the Russian defences and seize the initiative in the East, or will you defeat the fascist invaders and restore the safety of the motherland.

"Twenty-seven pages long, this Pint Sized campaign provides the background history to the campaign with situation maps.  Uses period maps to show the location of the actions and then provides a complete campaign with forces for both sides, support options for players to select from and full victory conditions for all six battles and the campaign as a whole."

You can buy Storming the Citadel for the pint-sized cost of £3.80 by clicking here.

Page Limit Panic!

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This website is built on the Squarespace platform: very arty, very reliable, easy to use, and more than just blog functionality. Highly recommended for this sort of hobby site that needs a bit more than a pure blogging platform can offer.

I pay the $180 a year to have up to 1,000 pages and was somewhat surprised when, on coming to build the pages for this year's TFL Painting Challenge, I was told that I had reached my limit.

I can't have built 1,000 pages!

Of course, it turns out that I have. Two hundred pages for previous painting challenge galleries, five hundred pages of individual after action reports, all the different articles, army galleries and scenarios: it all adds up.

So what to do?

I contacted Squarespace and said "help"!

Their (very helpful) customer service chap couldn't give me any more pages, but pointed out that I was using the platform in quite an old-fashioned way: using web-pages rather than blog-posts for my content...a bit like producing a daily newspaper on super-high quality gloss paper rather than newsprint. 

He suggested that as Squarespace gives you unlimited blog posts, and that a blog post contains most if not all of the functionality of a web-page, if I was a bit clever about navigation and presentation, then I could actually archive a lot of my web-pages onto blog posts, thus significantly freeing things up.

Not only that, but Squarespace has various 'summary' functionalities that can group and present blog posts in a very pleasing way, and would actually save me the trouble of having to build second tier navigation pages line by line: I could just pop in a 'summary' block and the machine would do it for me.

Now the above makes me sounds positively antediluvian (hilarious, as I work in media and spend a lot of my time working on the commercial side of some very large publication websites) but as I sat and played with Squarespace, I realised that, as regards Vis Lardica, I was still in very much a pre-blogosphere mind-set.

So, gradually, over the next few months, I shall be migrating content as Squarespace suggest.

Trouble is, of course, this is very time-consuming and actually quite annoying: it's the web-designer equivalent of re-basing!

I've already spent four hours working out how best to present just one small part of the site (see below), and another four hours actually migrating the content. New areas will be built a la blog, but moving the old will take some time.

So, first area migrated is the gallery of my 19th Century (Waterloo to Mons) figures. Here, the navigation page is effectively a blog, with each different gallery being a different blog post, and with the links to the different galleries coming from a Summary content block. 

Click here to go to the navigation page and let me know what you think. I've also revamped the look and feel of the titling as well: always good to refresh look and feel occasionally!

Pickett's Charge Now Available

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Although a divisional rather than a company-sized game, here's news of the launch of the first TFL/Reisswitz publication, Pickett's Charge.

"Written by veteran game designer Dave Brown, Pickett’s Charge are an exciting and dynamic game with plenty of fast-paced action combined with a command and control system which is intuitive and simple to use, but nuanced and subtle enough to provide the gamer with interesting and testing command challenges. ‘Simple to learn but a challenge to master’ has never been more the case as the player is constantly presented with decisions about how to best influence the action, to seize the initiative from the enemy and to inspire his troops on to great deeds.

"Packed with Civil War flavour, Pickett’s Charge is designed for Divisional and larger battles in the American Civil War, with the Regiment being the smallest manoeuvre element, the Brigade the lowest tactical command. A typical club night action involving several Brigades per side and a full day or weekend handling a Corps or two with ease.

"82 pages in length, Pickett’s Charge includes rules for using both 15mm and 28mm figures, suggestions for organising your armies with a point system and a guide to rating force. An introductory scenario is all you need to get playing with this great new set of rules from the master of the big battlefield.

"PLEASE NOTE:  This advanced order option is for the hard copy rules with the bonus of a free PDF of the rules. The PDF will be emailed to you on the day of publication, the 26th of October."

You can buy the rules by clicking either here or on the picture of the front cover.

TFL Sale: Chain of Command at 15% Off

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Although Chain of Command (CoC) isn't usually featured on Vis Lardica - this site being devoted to TFL's company-sized games, and CoC being a skirmish-level, platoon-sized game - it's nice to be able to let you know that the Lardies are having a bit of a sale and offering CoC at 15% off:

New Wargames Company from TFL

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News from Lard Island: the TooFatLardies are launching a sister company named Reisswitz Press.

Here's a copy of the release:

It isn’t often that a new publishing house dedicated to historical wargaming is launched, but that is precisely what is about to happen as Reisswitz Press prepares to publish it’s first set of wargames rules, Pickett’s Charge by respected game designer Dave Brown, the man behind such classics as General de Brigade, British Grenadier and Battlegroup Panzer Grenadier.

For the uninitiated, the Reisswitz name comes from the author of what are widely viewed as the first set of modern wargames rules; the 1824 Kriegsspiel which was adopted by the Prussian Army and led to an explosion in military gaming which became popular with military men and enthusiastic civilians alike.   Indeed it is testament to von Reisswitz that his rules are still being used today and, probably more importantly, that the hobby he did so much to launch goes from strength to strength.

Most wargamers, especially readers of Lard Island News, will be familiar with TooFatLardies.  As game designers and publishers we have long been convinced of the importance of history within our wargames; with a large dollop of Clausewitzian friction and an emphasis on command decisions being our trademark.  The founding of Reisswitz Press will allow us to publish wargames rules which fall outside the traditional scope of Lard but which share our dedication to historical gaming.

What is more, Reisswitz Press is an opportunity for us to work with some of the most dynamic and influential people in the hobby.  As we have seen, Dave Brown needs no introduction and we have been very pleased to work with Henry Hyde who has done our graphic design and layout on this project and to use the artwork of the peerless Don Troiani on the cover.

Over the coming weeks, as we move towards our launch publication date, we’ll be keeping you informed about Pickett’s Charge with articles on design and reports on games.  We are also looking to produce a range of short videos to show the rules in play.

TFL Summer Special 2016 Now Available!

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Great news: the TFL Summer Special 2016 has landed and is now available.

Click here to buy it.

Contents and blurb from Rich:

Packed with the usual mix of Lard related articles, scenarios and campaigns.  This is a bumper edition weighing in at a collosal 136 pages

Introduction
The usual waffle from the less-than-dynamic duo. 

Death Road to Corunna
Alfredo Vitaller & chums from Club Dragon in Madrid present a chilly Napoleonic campaign for Sharp Practice  

A Fast & Dirty Guide to Tactics
Playing Sharp Practice and looking for top tactical tips?  Look no further.

Let’s All Get Equally Confused
Two Operation Torch scenarios for I Ain’t Been Shot Mum from Charles Eckart in the USA

Team Desobry
Men of the midlands, Ade and Al, head for the Ardennes as Team Desobry defend Noville in December 1944 with Chain of Command

109 Beat It
Jim Jackaman takes on the Hun over northern France with Bag the Hun

George Washington’s Indian War
Simon Walker applied his war-paint and looks at this little known but rather spiffing war for Sharp Practice.

On the Trail of Fort Jefferson  
A scenario for the above conflict.

Our Moccasins Trickled Blood.
Another Indian War scenario.  You know that they say, red moccasins…

At the Sharp End…of the Runway
Some campaign ideas for Bag the Hun from James Crate in the US of A.

Binky Faversham’s Guide to Banter
Tally Ho chaps, Caribou nibbling on the croquet hoops, Scramble!  Binky makes sense of banter from his high security psychiatric institution

The Company Commander in Big Chain of Command
Len Tracey suggests uses for the main man in large games of CoC. 

Matching Scale and Wargames
La Roundwood introduces us to fine art and even finer figures for the Thirty Years War

The Japanese Army 1936-42
A guide to Japanese tactics from Len Tracey in Australia.              

George of the Jungle
An IABSM scenario set in Burma in 1945 and starring George Macdonald Fraser.

A Fighting Withdrawal
A Dunkirk perimeter campaign for Chain of Command.  Can you save the BEF? 

Itching to Mix It
The Hun are raiding Swanage.  It was the last time anyone went there out of choice. 

America’s First D-Day
Charles Eckart presents a US-Mexican War amphibious landing. 

Kernow’s Corner
A last-ditch fight for the DCLI as they stand up to the German Spring Offensive of 1918.  A Muddy CoC scenario. 

Tanks in the Wire
The NVA attack a US Special Forces camp in 1968A scenario for Charlie Don’t Surf from Ross Bowrage.

It was just my Imagi-Nation…
An introduction to Big Rich’s Seven Years War project.

The Khazi is Revolting
An Indian Mutiny Scenario from the Deep Fried Lard Games Day.  Can you get the Major Piles Relief Column through in time?

Saving the Honourable “Tootles” Ash
A cinematic adventure into WWII with arescue mission for Chain of Command.

The Roundwood Report
Sidney discusses firing mechanisms and much else with Big Rich.

Creating Facts on the Ground
Fighting the Six Day War Lardy Style with Robert Avery

Sharp Practice: Advanced Orders Now Being Taken

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Exciting news from Lard Island: with advanced orders for Sharp Practice now being taken.

Sharp Practice is the TFL large scale skirmish game designed for use from the Napoleonic era to the end of the catalytic wars.

Here's what Big Rich had to say about the release:

The rules are at the printers, the cards are being produced, the Poker Chips are en route and the Game tokens are rolling off the production line.  That can only mean one thing: Sharp Practice will be released on St George’s Day later this month and we are now taking advanced order.

And what spankingly good advanced orders we have for you too.  You can, of course, get the rule set on its own, but there are also five bundle deals which you can select from which provide some assistance when playing the game.  Let’s take a look at what these bundles contain.

The Rules

It's a 120 page book which contains the rules and Army Lists for five different conflicts.  These are the French Indian War, the AWI, Peninsular War, ACW and Indian Mutiny.  

However, the rules won’t stop there.   We have lost of other periods ready as free downloadable Army lists covering stuff like Garibaldi in Italy, Napoleonic warfare, Revolutionary Wars in Italy, US Mexican Wars and a whole host of other exciting stuff.

The Cards or Poker Chips

You can choose whether you want to use a card deck or pull chips from a bag or cup.  It’s entirely up to you which you use.  You will need ONE set or cards or chips to play a game.  You do not need one per player.  

The poker chip set are 34 tokens in engraved MDF which are very easy to paint up and look superb when they are done.  The cards are a proper poker standard set with rounded corners and come in a tuck box.  As it happens we got 40 cards to a deck as this suited the printer card sizes so the card deck is slightly larger.

Game Tokens

A set of 18 acrylic tokens to indicate when units Present (ready to fire a controlled volley), when they are firing an uncontrolled volley and when they are broken.  We have played many many games and this set of 18 tokens have been all we needed for any game situation.  No need to duplicate unless you are really going to push the boat out on game size.

We will be posting photos of all of the items as they arrive from suppliers, for now you’ll have to trust us as to the fact that they are all designed for purpose and rather swish.  Here’s the bundles in detail.

The Bundles

Bundle 5

The monster of a bundle with everything anyone would wish for on the Sharp Practice front.

  • Hard Copy rules with 120 pages packed with army lists, scenarios and, of course, the game rules.
  • Bumper Card Deck of 40 cards
  • MDF Poker Chip Set of 34 Chips
  • Game Token set in acrylic
  • Free PDF of the rules.

At £38 this saves you £21 as a bundle.

Bundle 4

Chips with everything  (as per Bundle 5 but no card deck)

  • Hard Copy rules with 120 pages packed with army lists, scenarios and, of course, the game rules.
  • MDF Poker Chip Set of 34 Chips
  • Game Token set in acrylic
  • Free PDF of the rules.

At £34 this saves you £19 as a bundle

Bundle 3

Card Sharp (as per Bundle 5 but no Poker Chips)

  • Hard Copy rules with 120 pages packed with army lists, scenarios and, of course, the game rules.
  • Bumper Card Deck of 40 cards
  • Game Token set in acrylic
  • Free PDF of the rules.

At £35 this saves you £19 as a bundle

Bundle 2

Rules & Chips

  • Hard Copy rules with 120 pages packed with army lists, scenarios and, of course, the game rules.
  • MDF Poker Chip Set of 34 Chips
  • Free PDF of the rules.

At £28 this saves you £17 as a bundle

Bundle 1

Rules & Cards

  • Hard Copy rules with 120 pages packed with army lists, scenarios and, of course, the game rules.
  • Bumper Card Deck of 40 cards
  • Free PDF of the rules.

At £29 this saves you £17 as a bundle.

These bundle orders are for the hard copy rules with extras and they PDF comes free as a “thank you” for placing an advanced order.  Please note, the free PDFs will be sent out on the 23rd of April, the release date.

We will be releasing the PDF bundles on the 23rd of April which will cover the PDF versions of the rules along with bundles of hard copy cards, chips and tokens, so if that’s your bag keep your eyes on the web site or Lard Island News for more details.

The TooFatLardies shop can be reached by clicking here.

Google AdSense: Much Amusement!

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So some of you may have noticed that I've added Google AdSense to a couple of pages of the Vis Lardica site. Not exactly ready to retire yet on the proceeds (so far I've made enough to buy about half a 15mm tank!) but it's certainly quite an amusing journey.

AdSense looks at a combination of the content on the page and the cookies associated with you, the visitor, before deciding what ads to serve. Usually that means there's advertising for retirement products (oh, we are just so old, us wargamers)  or online computer games: not a bad match.

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Yesterday, however, you may have noticed that I posted about my latest painted unit: a UAR or Egyptian infantry platoon for the 6DW. 

What advertising do I see today?  

Yup:  "Date Arab Women" from arabmatchmaking.com!

Remind me never to post about Big CoC*

R

*Big Chain of Command

TFL January Sale

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News from the front: the TooFatLardies are having a January Sale. Here's what Rich said on Lard Island News:

"It wouldn’t be January without a Sale, and this month we have not one but two great deals on offer.  Firstly we have all of the Sharp Practice range available at 35% off list price, that’s the rules in hard copy or PDF format and all of the supplements.  You can find them on our web site here:  Sharp Practice

"Secondly, we have a focus this month on I Ain’t Been Shot Mum, our hugely popular Company sized rules for the Second World War.  The rules and all of the huge range of supplements are available at 20% off for the rest of January.  Our IABSM products are listed here:  IABSM

"There’s never been a better time to get hold of two Lardy classics!"

You can click on the titles in bold to go straight to the TFL online shop.

TFL Christmas Special Now Available

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First chance I've had to publicise the arrival of the TFL Xmas Special 2015, available as a pdf for just £5 from the TFL website by clicking here.

For those who aren't familiar with the format, the specials are a twice-yearly collection of Lard related articles and features that provide hours of good reading and gaming. Here's what's in this one:

  • Introduction:  A Festive greeting from Lard Island. 
  • Malaya 1942:  A Chain of Comand campaign set in the jungles of Malaya sees an Australian force attempt to delay the Japanese invaders. 
  • Chain of Command Abyssinia:  Supporting the vast collection of Army lists available via Lard Island News, Rolf and Jim provide some tactical notes for the Ethiopian Imperial Guard and the French Foreign Legion. 
  • Now That’s What I Call Magic!  Providing a system of plausible Dark Age magic for Dux Britanniarum and The Raiders. 
  • “The Reccies”: The Reconnaissance Corps has a brief existence between 1941 and 1946. Here we look at their structure, training and how to represent them in I Ain’t Been Shot Mum and Chain of Command. 
  • The Swan: A mini-campaign for use with I Ain’t Been Shot Mum and the Reconnaissance Corps set in late 1944 as the Allies drive North through France and Belgium.
  • The Devil’s Garden: A Western Desert scenario for Chain of Command using the Reconnaissance Corps lists.
  •  The Roundwood Report:  Sidney quizzes Rich about movement in wargaming and chats about the forthcoming Sharp Practice v2.
  •  Painting German Camouflage: Ben Fiene dips his brush into the complex world of German Camouflage patterns and provides some great easy to follow solutions.  
  • Chain of Command:  Undead ParanormalSid Bennet presents a thought provoking approach to Zombies and how to make your opponent’s hair stand on end when he thinks he’s playing WWII.
  • Division Azul: Alfredo Vitaller, Anibal Invictus and Julio Martinez of Club Dragon in Madrid present this guide to the Spanish Blue Division, lists of Chain of Command and a scenario
  • Mrs Slocombe Rides Again:  Fat Nick tells a Christmas Tale which should probably never be told.
  • Going with the Floe: Building Ice terrain for the North Pole. An idiot’s guide. Literally. 

15% Off Sale at the TooFatLardies

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For those who need to buy some more Lardy products (cough, my scenario books, cough*), Rich is running a 15% off sale over at the main TooFatLardies webstore. You can get there by clicking here.

Not sure how long the sale will last: Rich says until he's finished the Xmas Special...so Easter then!

*all my scenario books are updated for IABSMv3...and if you don't fancy them, there's always Q13!


New Chain of Command Markers Available

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News that the Lardies have released a new set of markers for Chain of Command. I'll let Rich tell all...

"Two of the things  we are regularly asked for are a set of Patrol Markers and a set of Jump-Off Points for smaller figures such as 20mm or 15mm.  We thought it would be a great idea to kill two birds with one stone and, in partnership with our chums at Warbases, we have produced sets of eight markers for both the Axis and Allied forces.  Each set contains four robust MDF Patrol Markers with either the Allied star or German Baltic Cross.  The four Patrol Markers are 5cm diameter circles and four smaller jump off points are 3cm diameter.  Both are in 3mm MDF laser cut and etched for each painting.

"Here’s what they look like “naked”.

"I decided to slap a bit of paint on my own sets.  I went with a black undercoat for both before applying Vallejo Russian Uniform Green to the Allied ones and Middlestone to the Axis ones.  I then added some camouflage to the German one before detailing the Allied Star in white and the Baltic Cross in black.  The German one then got a yellow rim to make it stand out on the table.  On reflection, I think I might do the Baltic Cross in white and maybe replace the yellow with a bright red.  Early War Panzer grey would be a nice look too.  Part of the fun is deciding how you like yours!

"The best news is that both the Axis and Allied sets are now available on the web site for just £3 each.  Now, there’s a stocking present for you!"

You can buy the Allied marker set by clicking here.

You can buy true Axis marker set by clicking here.