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.

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.

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.

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!

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... 

IABSM AAR: Heavy PaK Front by Mark Luther

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Another great 6mm IABSM AAR from Mark Luther. This scenario involves the Germans advancing into a hail of fire from Soviet anti-tanks guns...and then there's the JS-IIs to contend with as well. I'll play the Soviets please!

Click on the pic below to see all:

For those who are interested, I will be at Colours tomorrow, Saturday 16th September, probably for most of the morning.

For those wishing to join me, you can find details of the event by clicking here. At only £6 entry, it's got to be worthwhile, either as a shopping trip or a chance to see the demo games. I personally can't stand the venue, but the show is always good.

Rock the Casbah AAR: The Al Bass Crossroads

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Another brilliant Lebanon 1982 battle report from Anton Ryzbak's blog, Anton's Wargame Blog.

This AAR, from 2012, covers the further adventures of the Israeli column featured in his last two games, and is actually written by fellow player Justice and Rule. 

The report features vast numbers of pictures (seventy-five in all!) showing off some of the wonderful terrain they were using. Viewing is highly recommended. Click on the pic below to see all:

IABSM AAR: A Canadian VC Re-Visited

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You may remember that when I posted James Tree's AAR using the A Canadian VC scenario from the rulebook, I posted links to all the other battle reports using the same set up.

Well, James had a look at some of them, and decided he hadn't quite played the scenario correctly...so there was nothing for it but to play the game again.

Click on the pic below to see how it worked out this time: take two!

IABSM AAR: For the Honour of France...Again

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Rather than immediately clear away the rather nice set up for the For the Honour of France game played a couple of weeks ago (click here to read the AAR, opens in a new window), I decided to use the same scenario for a game that I was umpiring between John and Dave that took place last weekend.

A very different game from last time. Click on he pic below to see all:

IABSM AAR: A Canadian VC #11

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One of the things I love about being a scenario writer is seeing how different people interpret the scenarios that I write: how do they translate my maps to their tabletops, how do their players handle the tactical challenges set for them.

I enjoy all this not just with my scenarios but with all scenarios, so it's nice to see the eleventh battle report for a game using the A Canadian VC scenario from the IABSM v3 rulebook: this one posted onto the IABSM Facebook group by James Tree.

I hope he doesn't mind, but I've also reproduced the whole AAR here as well. Click on the pic below to see all...then perhaps go back to the main AAR page to compare and contrast how the other ten games looked and played out.

IABSM AAR: Kursk

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Here's a great IABSM after action report from the somewhat surprisingly named Miniature Bastards* Russian-language blog by Valderech.

I haven't been able to make contact with Valderech, so I hope he doesn't mind me reproducing his entry here, but his game looks absolutely superb and deserves a wide audience.

As for the accompanying words, I have tried to convert the gobbledegook that Google Translate came up with into something resembling good English, so for any clumsy phrases etc, blame me.

Click on the picture below to see all:

*Now whilst my little men do sometimes let me down (my orders are always clear, my tactics always sound!) I'm not sure bad language is called for!

IABSM AAR: Defence of Calais #01: Les Attaques

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As mentioned in a previous post, there's now a thriving I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! group on Facebook, which you can visit by clicking here.

One relatively recent post was from James Tree, with a brief pictorial report of his game using the first scenario from the Defence of Calais scenario pack: Les Attaques. I'm sure he won't mind me reproducing it here, so click on the pic below to see what happens as the Panzers first arrive at the outskirts of Calais...