Abingdon Wargames Club took their Charlie Don't Surf game to several wargames shows in 2012. Here is a collection of photos and reports from some of their games.
Overlord
Just one pic from this show!
Salute 2012
Right, here are some random photos from Salute. The fact they only show our game isn't chauvinist; it's just none of us got to have a dekko around the rest of the show! Thanks to various folk who took an interest and asked a question or two, not mention played.
Campaign 2012
It's a veritable deluge of digital imagery, as we present some more piccies, this time from Campaign 2012 in sunny Milton Keynes. Yes, it is the same game as at Salute 2012, only with more (relatively) action-packed shots!
Attack! 2012
Quick post- we took Charlie Don't Surf to Attack, hosted by Devizes & District Wargames Group today. Our players today seemed to enjoy themselves and the rules throughly, and poor Mr. Smallridge fell foul of some very sharp spotting by the young gent in command of Red Platoon. The fact that they also asked to use his lucky red Communist dice instead of the usual US yellow dice has nothing to do with it.
We'd not attended Attack before, and found we weren't overwhelmed with players, possibly as it was only Sunday that we attended, rather than both days, so we actually found it quite a nice relaxed day. I grabbed some terrain on wandering round, and a couple more KR cases in anticipation of, well, you'll see in future.
Thanks again to Phil Mackie and the rest of D&DWG for the invite- hopefully we'll be back with something different in 2013!
Colours 2012
So, Colours 20112. Once again, I duck out of commenting on the show in detail, as I didn't really see it despite being there on both days. I'm not quite sure how this happened, and console myself with the fact that this meant my show expenditure was precisely £0.00.
To be precise, Saturday saw us arrive, set-up and immediately stuck into the first of three Charlie Don't Surf games. Our players soon got into the spirit of the setting, and picked the rules up quickly. The youngest player was about 8 or 9 years, and he managed to maintain his concentration for an hour, before hunger/thirst got the better of him. To the best of my recollection, everyone who played was new to TooFatLardies rules, with the exception of Ashley, one of the many correspondents on the TooFatLardies Yahoo group. Once again, it was fantastic to meet and put a face to another member of the Yahoo group, who seemed to have apretty good time playing Charlie for the first time; getting the only total US victory of the weekend may well have helped, alongside the US players humming Ride Of The Valkyries every time a 'copter-related chip was played (once again, Ashley, I apologise for the lack of AFVs in the game)!
Having ensured all the toys were secure and safe for the night, I sashayed off for an an excellent T-bone steak, washed down with a rather nifty Rioja. This ensured that even if I didn't sleep the sleep of the just, I would at least sleep the sleep of those with access to expensive lawyers.
Sunday saw two games, in which players went the whole nine yards (ie played right through to an absolute conclusion). Game one saw pretty much every possible event occur - ammo shortages, CASEVAC, booby-traps, snipers, the works - as well as learning what happens when a gunship unloads all of its ammo in one fell swoop.
Game two saw some unexpected and hilarious friction occur between Company Commander Dad and his Platoon Commander sons; Dad had his eye on the mission objective, but the Sons were more concerned with protecting their men:
"You realise you'll be court-martialled if you don't order your men to enter the hooch?"
"I don't care; I'm not leaving my other squad in front of that MG bunker in the open!"
Ah, the parent-child dynamic.
I do have some memories of what was going on around us, though. There was a mighty (and impressive) zombie-infested city to our right, and back and to the left* was a corking A Very British Civil War game, in which Canadian-supported Albertine forces were having a crack at the BUF (I think they also won a show prize, and rightly so). Food for thought, as AWC are considering AVBCW as a future club campaign.
*Though not on a grassy knoll.
All Reports By Penfold