TFL Painting Challenge: Post-Edinburgh Update

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Lots of entries waiting for me to process on my return from Auld Reekie so, in no particular order, we have:

  • Grand Maestro Slade with a one off character model and some Mongoose 2000AD Judges
  • Three tanks from Stumpy
  • John de Terre Neuve sends in four 20mm WW2 guns/tanks and a host of 32mm fantasy figures
  • Five tanks from Mr Hodge
  • Lloyd "The Hat" Bowler has some more 1/600 ships completed
  • There are four Mordheim (RIP) figures from Carole Flint
  • Mr Stoesen gives us some rocks
  • No picture, but Mark Luther has completed ten feet of roadside trees in 6mm just because he wanted some that were reddish-brown. As he says: it's a sickness!
  • And last, but by no means least, Andrew Helliwell has re-based and shroffed up an entire army

As per usual, clicking on the name of the person will take you through to their gallery (which will open in a new window).

Today's pictures are below:

1/48 T-72 for the Chechen war from Stumpy

It's an American towed AA gun in 1/72 scale from John de Terre Neuve

Judges, from Matt Slade

IABSM AAR: Cognac and Cabbage in Edinburgh

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Knowing I was in Edinburgh, fellow Lardy Derek Hodge was kind enough to invite me over to the South East Scotland Wargames Club for a game of IABSM.

We played Derek's adaptation of a scenario that I wrote for the Xmas 2005 TwoFatLardies Christmas Special: Moiste Cabbage and a Quick Cognac.

A great game, and played using Derek's 10mm collection rather than my usual 15's.

Find out how Captain Cognac and his gens braves got on by clicking on the picture, below.

The Sharp End of War

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Those of you who listened to the first Lardy Oddcast will have heard Nick Skinner mention that one of the key influences on "I Ain't Been Shot, Mum" was the book "The Sharp End of War" by John Ellis. Inspired by Nick's words, I quickly Googled the book and managed to buy an 'as new' hardback copy for just 1p, plus £2.80 p&p.

I'm now three quarters of the way through it, and can understand exactly where Nick is coming from:  it's an excellent examination of the experience of the fighting man in World War II. It's not about strategy, tactics or weapons but only about what the soldiers had to go through, what they had to endure.

The chapter headings give you the book's contents:  the physical setting; combat/infantry; combat/artillery and armour; casualties; discipline & morale; relaxation; and attitudes. 

I've just finished the section on the rations that the troops had to put up with and, having enjoyed a day of fine wines and dining, can only sympathise absolutely. I don't think I've ever eaten 'bully beef' and I don't think I ever want to:

Such was the case in Eritrea, where bully beef was the staple item. During the day the tins often became too hot to handle and when opened they spewed out their contents, a revolting oily liquid containing a few strings of gut-like meat.

This book is thoroughly recommended. My only real criticism is that it only covers the Allied troops' war experience, saying nothing about troops from the Axis forces or Soviet Union. Information on them would have been nice as a comparison, but then the book would have had to be three times the size!

I'd advise anyone interested in WW2 history to get a copy as soon as possible.

TFL Painting Challenge: Mid-Week Update

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The publicity I gave the Challenge at the weekend seems to have worked nicely: enough entries to warrant an update already, and it's only Thursday. This includes a new entrant, Steven Lampon, showing that it's never to late to join the Challenge!

So, in no particular order, here are today's entries:

  • Steven Lampon is new to the Challenge, but opens with an impressive 668 point entry featuring some gorgeously painted figures
  • Lloyd "The Hat" Bowler returns: taking a break from his Romans with some tangential 1/600 ships. Beautiful.
  • The man-machine that is Matt Slade visits Middle Earth and Faerie: a mix of figures from the maestro
  • Ed Bowen sends in American War of Independence goodies
  • There's more re-basing from Mr Hodge
  • Andy Duffell submits some houses for the table's edge
  • And last, but by no means least, Carole is still in Darkest Africa

As usual, clicking on the name of the person will take you straight to their gallery (opens in a new window). I'm updating this before work today, so the Scorecard won't be refreshed until tonight.

Here are today's pictures:

Some lovely Carthaginian types from Mr Lampon's first entry

Very clever: table's edge terraced houses

Charlie Foxtrot, submitted by Andy Duffell

1/600 paper ships from Warartisans, built by The Hat

IABSM AAR: Kolonie by Mark Luther

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Talking of Mark Luther and the GA Lardy Day (see last Sunday's post), here's another great after action report from Mark and friends.

This is a 6mm IABSM game played at Giga-bites Café in the Spring of 2017. The starting point for the scenario is the action that took place on the outskirts of Kolonie on the Belgium-Dutch border on the morning of September 14, 1944. 

The Allied bridgehead was held by the 5th Coldstream Guards (11 Armoured Division) with C Squadron of the 15/19 Hussars just down the road. The German units coming down the road straight for the canal consisted of 6 Luftwaffe BewahrungsBatalillon zur besondere Verwendung (a Luftwaffe penal unit) and Sturmgeschutze from 2/559 schwere Heeres Panzerjager Abteilung.

Click on the picture below to see all the action.

Paghgaw IFV from Dark Star

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With the infantry element of my Tah-Sig force almost complete (only 24 to go!), it's time to start thinking about what armour they will have in support.

Khurasan haven't yet got around to releasing any vehicles for the Tah-Sig (assume my usual complaint about infantry-only sci-fi ranges is repeated here) so it was time to have a look around the web to see what else was available.

Paghgaw IFV: image from the Dark Star Website

I've had my eye on the Dark Star 'Other Factions' range for some time. The tanks are an unusual shape (pizza slices, as my daughter called them) but as they are long and low, I think they suit the Tah-Sig perfectly:  matching the idea of them wearing armoured environmental suits as well.

Only problem is that the tanks are only available by mail order from the States, and with each vehicle being $18, the poor old pound still hovering around the $1.30 mark, and with postage and tax on top, they end up being pretty expensive. About £25 each in fact!

Well, my children don't really need to eat at every meal, so I bit the bullet and ordered four: three Garshaw AFVs and one Paghgaw IFV to use as a command vehicle.

Here's my attempt at the Paghhaw:

I decided not to use the suggested chain guns on the front but, as it's a support tank, to use the wider, howitzer-looking gun that comes as an option with each AFV. 

The tank also comes with a separate drone which, as you can see, I have modelled floating above the vehicle. That was fairly each to do: a pin drill and a bit of wire was all that was needed.

The unusual paint scheme is a bit of an experiment. It was done old-school style:  the tank was sprayed in the dark red colour, then I put masking tape strips where I wanted the stripes to be. Another spray, this time in the green, leave to dry, then peel off the masking tape to get the camo pattern. Then a quick touch up and drybrush to bring out the detail.

To be absolutely honest, I'm not sure I like it! I'm going to paint the other three in grey with red stripes as opposed to green, and see if I like them more. It is certainly eye-catching, so we'll have to see if it grows on me once deployed onto the tabletop proper.

Here's the Garshaw from the Dark Star website. My version to follow in a later post...

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...

Lardy Day GA

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Fellow Lardy Mark Luther* has asked me to mention the forthcoming Lardy Day GA taking place 10am to 7pm on 11th November 2017 at the Giga-Bites cafe in Marietta, GA.

There will be three games of Chain of Command: a Winter Storm Russian battle with a train, a Normandy game, and Mark's own Burma '45 game. There will also be two Sharp Practice Pirate games and Mark's French and Indian Wars game.  Also, Jim Schmidt (author of the rules) will be doing a Coastal Patrol game.

Contact Mark on mhluther76@gmail.com for details: the day is free, so definitely worth a visit.

*author of many of the spectacular 6mm IABSM battle reports that can be found elsewhere on this site

TFL Painting Challenge: Big Saturday Update

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A nice variety of beautifully painted figures feature in this week's update:

  • Carole has some Congo-style adventurers in 28mm
  • Steve Burt is also still on an African theme
  • A game of AK-47 has Mr. Hodge re-basing, and he's put together a couple of lovely terrain squares for WW2 Normandy
  • There are a couple of camels and their handlers from Matt Slade
  • Mervyn has been barnstorming in 28mm and painting Bavarians in 15mm
  • There's chicken coup and a few militia from Chris Stoesen
  • More 28mm Japanese from John Haines, with a few explorers and monsters in 15mm on top
  • Mr Luther has been painting hard for the 20mm Sharp Practice French and Indian Wars game he is running at the forthcoming Lardy Day GA:  11th November, 10am-7pm, free of charge, Giga-Bites, Marietta, GA
  • Andy Duffell has broken his drought
  • And last but by no means least, Mr Helliwell has been painting HYW and 7YW figures

As per usual, clicking on the name of the person above will take you direct to their gallery, which will, open in another tab.

Still plenty of time for the rest of you to get your entries in.

Today's pictures:

Derek's terrain tiles for 6mm Normandy

Some armed Liberated Ladies (including one who clearly went to the wrong sort of school) from Carole for the Congo

Some gentlemen to take them to the dance, from Mr Burt

More modern Africa:  Andy Duffell's light industrial building and occupant

A rather nice Sarissa farmhouse, and a pigpen from Warbases, both from Mervyn Douglas

IABSM AAR: Once More Unto The Breach

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And here's an example of the first type of blog that I was talking about in yesterday's post: the moribund blog.

We all go through phases when we're more or less active online, but this blog hasn't been active since 2014, and the AAR I've lifted from it was written as a post in 2007.

Now without wanting to pick on this blogger specifically, you've got to ask the question of how long will it be before the blog and all its lovely content disappear forever: lost in time...like tears, in rain.

Fortunately, unlike poor Root-beer (as Max Headroom used to call him) Vis Lardica rides to the rescue, giving the AAR a new lease of life. Until, of course, VL disappears!

So, click on the pic to see how Randy Stoda got on in his first game of IABSM, all the way back in 2007... 

IABSM AAR: A Small Town in Belgium

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Those of you who follow this blog regularly will know that in addition to posting after action reports from all the company-sized games from the TooFatLardies being played now, I like to trawl the Internet and re-publish reports from games played way back when.

It makes this site the official, unofficial archive for IABSM, CDS and Q13 and their variants, and also often means that content on blogs that are now moribund is preserved (well, at least until I pop my wargaming clogs!) and content on live blogs that is so old that it has just about disappeared from view is given a new lease of life.

Here's an example of the latter: a one-off IABSM battle report dating back to 2010 from the Scattergun Gamer blog which I hope he doesn't mind me reproducing here. Only three pics, but good ones: I especially love the water-tower and marines.

Click on the pic below to see all.

Second Tah-Sig Platoon

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Slowly working my way through the rest of the TahSig: 15mm sci-fi from Khurasan.

One of the problems of playing sci-fi games is a lack of familiarity with the units involved...even if it's only because I don't play often enough.

I mean, I can spot a Denison smock at a distance and work out I'm probably looking at WW2 British Paras (I'm talking figures here, not real life!), and then know a bit about their OBs and capabilities, but have to think a bit before being able to do the same for any of the sixteen or so 15mm sci-fi armies I have.

I've therefore decided to make life easy for me with the Tah-Sig. Each platoon will have different coloured armour: first platoon in red, second in green, and company HQ to be decided. Then each section has a different coloured tail-fin and top-knob on their armour. Simples!

So here are the first two squads from platoon two:  green armour rather than red, and with red and yellow squad markers.

One squad and the platoon HQ to go, add a few more for the company HQ, and that's all the infantry finished for the moment.

IABSM AAR: Russian Front 1943

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Here's another IABSM AAR from Burt Minorrot's excellent Spanish-language blog Los Partidas de Burt...which I've always translated as Burt's Stuff but the wife, who speaks more languages than a half-elven bard, tells me actually translates as Burt's Games.

Anyhow, hopefully my translation of Burt's words is slightly better than usual, as the Memsahib helped with the really difficult bits i.e. those bits that Google Translate mangled beyond all recognition. 

Click on the picture below to see all:

Modern AAR: A Fight in Lebanon

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Another amazing Rock the Casbah AAR from the archive of Anton Ryzbak's excellent blog Anton's Wargame Blog, this one dating back to 2013.

The scenario is an Israeli penetration into a PLO controlled area in Lebanon. Each side had specific, and potentially asymmetric, objectives as well as very different forces and capabilities...which made for a very interesting game.

This AAR is so big that it originally appeared as three separate posts on Anton's blog. You'll be pleased to hear that I've combined everything into one enormous report that is absolutely definitely well worth a look.

All hail the indestructible killdozer!

Click on the pic below to see all:

What a great set up!

TFL Painting Challenge: Big End-of-the-Week Update

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Well the need to do a Painting Challenge update snuck up on me today. Checked the InBox and there were suddenly masses of entries needing processing.

So, in no particular order, we have:

  • Maestro Slade with another GW abomination
  • Some recce units and re-basing from Mr Hodge
  • Chris Stoesen has some docks for his pirates to play on, and a few figures as well
  • John Haines continues his quest for bushido
  • There's a whole load of Soviet people-carriers from Egg
  • Odds and ends from Jon Yuengling
  • Mervyn smashes in a second great mass of re-basing
  • And last, but by no means least, Mr Helliwell adds figures by the score, including enough to put him at exactly 1,000 20mm ACW chaps.

As always, clicking on the name will take you straight through to their gallery (opens in a new window).

Today's pics are below...

Egg's Soviet People Carriers

Matt's Monstrosity...although I'm not sure the unit markings are quite right ;)

Loving a bit of Samurai action from Mr Haines

Keep them coming!

More Armour for the Hura

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Regular visitors will know that the Hura range from Clear Horizons suffers from the all-too-common "infantry only" syndrome: a nice range of infantry, a single type of infantry support weapon...and that's it. No heavier support weapons, no armour:  no vehicles at all.

Now whether that's because the range hasn't proved popular and it's not worth expanding or some other reason, it has still left me with a couple of platoons of unsupported infantry...something which I got around by assigning to the Hura Brigade Games' Xarledi grav tanks from their Yenpalo range.

Very nice looking grav tanks, but still only one vehicle type...that is until now, when Brigade have added a support variant.

As you can see, the Xarledi Support Tank shares the same 'body' as its AFV brothers, but has a short, fatter gun.

I must confess I'm little underwhelmed. Lovely models, don't get me wrong, and always keen to have a variant or two...but they could have made its 'support' weaponry a bit more different. Perhaps more mortar-like, or Stalin-organ-esq. Basically something other than just a shorter, stubbier gun!

Funny, isn't it, how I'm quite happy to be happy with an early Panzer IV and an F2 as contemporaries whose main difference is barrel-length (hush, rivet counters: just pipe down, you know what I mean), but unhappy when you've got effectively the same thing in a sci-fi setting.

As Rich would say: too much space-pixie dust!

Anyway, as always from Brigade, lovely models, and good back up for the Hura.

More Tah-Sig Finished

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I'm gradually working through my two Tah-Sig platoons...particularly as I need to get the infantry finished before my Darkest Star AFVs arrive to provide their support. Fresh off the workbench is a another section of grunts, and two particle cannon teams i.e. floating squad light support weapons.

I particularly like the LSW teams: the two front bases in the pic, above, as I like the way the weapons are portrayed as outlined below. 

Each two-man team consists of a gunner and a loader. Although it's not very clear in the photo, the standing loader in the nearest team has a couple of football-sized objects on a rack on his back, but the lying-down loader has one football-sized object on the ground close to his gunner's weapon, and one 'deflated' football-sized object strapped to the rack on his back. It's now obvious to me that the football-sized objects are some kind of magazine or powerpack for the gunner's gun. Neat!

Anyway, the Tah-Sig come from Khurasan, and I'm looking forward to getting them onto the tabletop when all finished.

IABSM AAR: All American #10: Neuville au Plain

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Another great after action report picked up from the IABSM Facebook page.

This time, Desmondo Darkin leads his Luftlande Grenadiers into action against the 82nd Parachute Infantry Regiment in a scenario taken from the All American scenario pack.

Click on the picture below to see all:

IABSM AAR: Breakthrough in Normandy

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In addition to four ready-to-play scenarios, the IABSM v3 rulebook contains a random scenario generator allowing you to quickly and easily build scenarios of your own. 

There are six basic types of encounter detailed in the generator, the fifth one being "Breakthrough": where a strong, fast-moving force attempts to break through an enemy position.

Here's an AAR from Carole Flint using the "Breakthrough" scenario generator, with a game set in Normandy, 1944, and detailed on her excellent blog Hippolyta's Tiny Footsteps.

A force of British tanks and their supports attempts to punch a hole in the German defensive line. Click on the pic below to see all... 

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.