A nice little after action report from Desmondo Darkin, orginally posted on the I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum Facebook page.
Not only do we get the first part of an AAR (the rest being lost in the mists of time!) but also some hints and tips on how to run an island invasion of your own.
Click on the picture below to read more…
Quite appropriately for whether we have been having recently, Tim Whitworth and the Like A Stone Wall wargames group raided the 2005 Summer Special for a scenario with which to play their latest game of I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum!
Not much commentary, but some lovely pictures of their terrain and models. Click on the pic below to see all:
Another of Mark Luther’s superb games of I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum in 6mm.
This battle features an encounter between mechanised Soviet and German forces on the north bank of the Danube in 1945. Highly recommended viewing.
Click on the picture below to see all:
Regular visitors to this site will know that one of my regular complaints is sci-fi figure manufacturers who produce a lovely range of basic infantry but then never get around to providing all the support teams that you need to make up a proper fighting force.
Okay, so some of these infantry squads are so loaded with their own weaponry that it could be said that they don’t need any support, but this doesn’t really gel with me. As the Marine Corps saying goes: always hit a nut with the biggest hammer possible…the nut gets cracked and the hammer is untouched!
It was therefore great to see that Khurasan Miniatures, that wonderful if somewhat erratic source of the esoteric, have released a couple of support weapons for their 15mm Hauk range.
The Hauk, for those of you who don’t know, are avians: birdmen to the non-Latin speakers. The existing range had some nice infantry and a couple of officers, but nothing more. Now, however, they can field mortars and their equivalent to a medium/heavy machine gun.
Mortars
Each weapon comes with the same stand, and the option of either a mortar, shown above, or a machine gun, shown below. There’s also a sniper figure, two new types of officer (one pointing, one with clipboard) and a casualty figure. I have ignored the casualty figure, and couldn’t be bothered to see if I could make the stands multi-purpose, so bought enough packs to give me four three-man mortar teams, with officer, and six three-man MMG teams, with officer. Add two snipers, and I still have lots of casualties and snipers left over, but I’m sure they’ll come in useful some time in the future.
Machine Guns
As you can see, I paint my Hauk with a simple but very colourful “parrot” pattern. Undercoat in white, immediate heavy wash with Agrax Earthshade; paint talons and beak yellow; paint wings, tail feather and head crest dark green then highlight with bright green; highlight all the armour in white; weapons are painted black highlighted in grey.
Well done Khurasan!
I don’t know where the time goes. It’s February already, and will doubtless be Christmas again soon. It’s lucky we have the constant presence that is the Painting Challenge to root us into the here and now!
Here are this week’s submissions:
Mr Helliwell adds some more Prussians and medieval types to his already impressive collection
It’s a first entry of the year from Mr Slade: lots of 28mm figures and five most impressive houses
Carole pops in four Renaissance women with swords
Mark Luther is still hooked on Sugar
The Hat is back: Lloyd sends in almost entire ACW Union army in 6mm
It’s assorted WW2 figures and vehicles from Chris Cornwell
Sapper is still amongst the medieval spearmen
More Prussians from Joe McGinn
And last, but most certainly not least, it’s a first entry of the year from my old mucker Mr Hodge
As per usual, clicking on the name of the person above will take you straight through to their gallery. Here are today’s pictures:
Here’s a few pictures from a recent game of I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum played by Dan Albrecht and his chums at the Vermont Gamers Group.
The scenario was #21: The Pimple from the Operation Compass scenario book (written by Yours Truly). Dan says:
“True to form the Italians took it on the chin. With Brits in hull-down position and Italians with only two Actions, no Big Men to remove Shock, after 10 turns most all M13/40s were knocked out or their main gun was damaged or immobilized. Still, good way to learn the rules, practice shifting artillery fire with FOs and besides…no American football on the TV this past Sunday!”
Steve Smith: The terrain is actually 3 form boards painted with some features made with a dremel. The brown strips that you see were made with caulk. A bead was laid down on a piece of wax paper. Then, a wooden popsicle stick was used to spread out the caulk. When dried they make good roads. You have complete freedom to make them in as many shapes as you want too. You can add dry brushing to get more definition if you like as well.. You can use the same process with blue caulk to make rivers and streams. These strips here are probably a little too big for this scale as roads(6mm)...originally intended for using with my Great Northern War collection and Boer War collection in 15mm. In this game the darker strip signifies the beginning slope of the Pimple edge. The lighter strips behind represent the crest of the Pimple. Improvising.
So another week flies by, and my inbox bulges with entries for the Painting Challenge!
Very frustrating: as I’m now back at work, I have no time to paint, so have to live vicariously through your efforts. Bit of a come down after the immense amount that I painted whilst on gardening leave, but such is life!
Here are today’s entries:
Joe McGinn sends in loads more Silesian types
There’s a huge 15mm “airborne” entry from Jon Yuengling: Fallschirmjaegers from 1940 and British Paras from later on.
John Emmett sends in another beautiful 28mm vehicle
Travis finishes off his Winter War Germans, and adds a few more Americans as well
It’s a first entry for this year’s challenge from Blue Moose Ken: his usual eclectic cornucopia of periods and scales
It’s also a first entry from Mark Luther: but no pics yet, so call back later!
More Star Wars from Chris Kay
Carole also sends in a mix of stuff, but it’s mostly later Romans
Kev, our favourite Fat Wally, has even more Confederates for us to look at. No time to paint my Ancient Britons, eh? LOL!
As usual, clicking on the name of the person above will take you through to their gallery page: and some of these galleries are already starting to fill with inspirational paint jobs.
Here are today’s pictures:
Sorry for the lack of posts this week: man flu (fatal in 110% of all cases) took hold, and I’ve been really busy at my new job.
However, here’s a bit of painting I managed to finish: another village set from the Forged in Battle Empire range that I will use as a Greek Hoplite camp for To The Strongest.
£24 again, but you do get a goodly number of houses, and they do paint up well: a nice bit of stippling!
Here’s how I will actually use them: although it obviously won’t be a Sherman tank guarding the camp…but that’s all I had handy when I was taking the pics!
A nice big update this week, as those of you who have entered this year’s Challenge have obviously decided to start the year with a bang!
Today we have:
Kev piles in some more 15mm American Civil War figures
There are some 7YW Prussian Fusiliers from Sapper
Chris Kay dips his toe in the water: sending in seven figures from Star Wars
Meanwhile Travis is painting so fast that he has run out of BEF (for the moment!) and had to also submit some Winter War chappies as well.
Joe McGinn is watching Last of the Mohicans, and is painting figures to match. Where, however, is the Last himself: Chingachgook?
I’m not sure how big Steve Burt’s draws are, but he’s been rummaging around in them for weeks now. Here’s more of what he found.
Carole is also heading out to the Great Lakes, with some French-Indian Wars figures of her own
Mr Plowman has a brace of VTOLs to display
And last, but by no means least, Andrew Helliwell returns in force
As always, clicking on the name of the person in the list above will take you straight to their gallery (opens in a new page). Here are today’s piccies:
A few pictures from a James Manto solo game which he posted on the IABSM Facebook Group recently.
As James says:
Some pics from my solo game last weekend including a close up of what I'm calling "the world's luckiest PanzerJaeger I " which survived a duel with the KV-2.
Personally, I’m also loving the aircraft.
Here’s a quick AAR taken from the I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum Facebook group, posted by the Chevalier de la Terre. The scenario used is the South of Cherbourg scenario from IABSM v3 rulebook; and has resulted in a beautiful looking game.
Click on the picture below to see all:
I’ve also added an even quicker AAR from fellow Lardy Julian Whippy, also from the I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum Facebook group. You can see the rest of Mr Whippy’s pics by clicking on the picture below.
A previous post has covered the elephants that I’ve added to my Sassanid Persian force. As I had a few spare infantrymen left over from those put aside for a Levy Foot unit, I thought I’d use them to represent the optional light infantry elephant escorts that significantly improve the battlefield effectiveness of the pachyderms.
Okay, so those big wooden shields don’t make them look much like light infantry, but I did take a bit of time and trouble over these little chaps, even if only as a practice for the planned (and far bigger) Levy Foot unit. You can see them better from behind:
Loving the white hats, even if they aren’t especially historically accurate
A simple paint job that nevertheless looks quite good. Three shades of blue, red and flesh. Paint in the darkest colours; wash in GW Agrax Earthshade; highlight in the next lightest colour; finally, a tiny highlight in the lightest colour.
The real test, of course, is how they look with the elephants they are supposed to be escorting:
Another great battle report from Tim Whitworth and the ‘Like a Stone Wall ‘ Wargames Group, this time put together from several Facebook posts mostly from the I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum! FB group.
This game is a continuation of their fight for the village of Sint Jooth in Holland in 1945. The British pulled out their war weary infantry on the night of 20th of January and re-grouped for an attack the next day (you can read the AAR covering the previous day’s action here).
Click on the picture below to see if the British had more luck on Day 2:
With the game To The Strongest, each army really needs at least one, and usually three, camps. Obviously, one can cobble something together, but it’s nice to have some specific pieces for each force.
Forged in Battle’s Empire range has recently added a whole series of 10-15mm buildings that, when combined with a flat base, make rather nice camps. I’ve bought a few, with the first off the production line being these six Ancient British huts:
Loving these. Easy to paint up: spray white; paint the roofs straw colour and the doors brown; wash with GW Agrax Earthshade; leave to properly dry and then highlight the thatch and doors; finally, take a stippling brush to the walls.
They are perhaps a bit pricey at £24, but well worth it. Recommended.
People’s first entries for the 2019 Painting Challenge are flooding in now, including a first-timer as well. Without further ado, let’s see what’s been submitted:
Carole sends in some scenery, and a lovely spaceship army for Hordes of Things
Sapper’s second entry of the year is some nice C14th English longbowmen
We have something from a first-timer next: John Emmett’s 28mm German Panzer III Flamm
Joe McGinn pops up ag’in: settlers from a Kickstarter and some FIW British Lights
It’s a second and third entry of the year from Travis Hiett: supports for his BEF
A huge first entry from Chris Cornwell: terrain boards and hordes of figures
Ralph Plowman has some 15mm sci-fi vehicles to share with us
And last but certainly not least, Owen is back with a bang: over a century of 15mm fantasy figures
As usual, clicking on the name of the person above will take you straight to their gallery (opens in a new window).
Plenty of room still for entrants this year, so pick up those brushes, scale the lead mountain, and join your fellow Lardies in the Challenge!
Today’s pictures are below:
The I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum! Facebook Group is a great source of information and inspiration. It’s also a place where people post a lot of short and snappy After Action Reports slightly different from the larger write-ups you find on people’s blogs.
Now not everyone wants to be a member of Facebook, which I can perfectly well understand, so below you’ll find links to a few recently-FB-posted AARs that I’ve copied across to Vis Lardica.
I’ve got specific permission to do so from most of the authors, but for those few that I haven’t, I hope that they don’t mind: VL is a not-for-profit website (it’s the old joke: “How do you make a £1 million from wargaming? Start with £3 million!”) designed only to spread the Lard.
Belle Maison
Click on the links below to see the reports:
Croissantville by Julian Whippy
Action in Tunisia
Morning all!
The TooFatLardies Painting Challenge 2019 is up and running, with many of you starting the year’s entries with a bang. Let’s waste no more time and get straight on to today’s submissions.
In no particular order, we have:
Mervyn kicks things off with a host of aliens…and a few humans to battle them
He’s joined by Mr Helliwell: more SYW figures, a barn…and a few fantasy humans
Travis sends in his first BEF squad: lovely
Steve Burt is still rooting around at the base of his lead mountain
Some British Paras from Jon Yuengling drop in to the Challenge
Mr Davenport has taken advantage of the Christmas festivities and produced a double handful of 28mm vehicles
And last, but by no means least, Kev sends in more 15mm ACW figures
As usual, clicking on the name of the person in the list above will take you straight to their gallery, which will open in a new window.
Here are today’s pictures
It’s one thing to collect figures - you need all sorts of different sorts to represent different armies, units etc - but to collect models of eastern European churches as well?
That’s what I seem to gave done over the last few years, in that I seem incapable of not buying any model that could vaguely be described as a “religious building, eastern”!
I once joked that I would like to have enough churches to have a different one for each of the maps in my Bashnya of Bust! scenario pack for I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum! That would take seven, eight or nine, dependent on whether you assumed one of the buildings in some of the smaller villages were houses of worship or not. Whichever it is, I seem to be well on the way. Below is a gallery (in ascending order of size) of my church collection so far:
I’m pretty sure I don’t actually need any more eastern churches now, but if anyone should know of any others that are available…just add their details as a Comment and you can bet your bottom dollar that I’ll be spending my bottom dollar on another house of God!
These have been sitting on my painting table for a few months: ever since the TimeCast sale in fact.
Here we have the Village Church, a Small Barn, and the Village Accessory pack from TimeCast’s 15mm Eastern Europe range. IIRC these are the re-mastered models, and very nice they are too.
The resin is smooth and takes the paint well. I’d question whether the Barn is small or not, but I like the church and accessory pack very much. That’s my Painting Challenge started for 2019.
And so to the first battle of 2019: a game of I Ain’t Been Shot, Mum! against Dave using one of the scenarios from the TooFatLardies Summer Special 2016. For those unaware of the Specials, and now the Lard Magazine, these are a wonderful source of scenarios, information and inspiration for all Lard games.
The scenario, by Richard Morrill, was called George of the Jungle, and was set in Burma, 1945. A Company, 9th Borders, part of 63 Brigade of 17th Indian Division, was tasked with clearing a small village near Meiktila of Japanese. The reason for the scenario’s title is that this action includes the participation of George McDonald Fraser, author of the Flashman novels, and is mentioned in his autobiography Quartered Safe Out Here. I would play the Japanese, and Dave would play the British.
Click on the picture below to see what happened:
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.
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.
