No posts for three days? Shocking! Nothing to do with me watching three hours of Game of Thrones every night for the last three days: no sirreee, nothing to do with that!
Well, anyway, what can I say...except here's another blast-from-the-past 6mm IABSM battle report from Mark Luther.
It's Italy, 1944: can the Allies build the bridge they need...click here or on the picture below to find out.
Another epic game of IABSM in 6mm from Mark Luther: this time a continuation of the battle I posted last week.
Click here or on the picture below to see more.
What should I have been doing this afternoon? Well either painting some more US Airborne figures, or some of the six alien races for Q13 I have on the go at the moment, or uploading more 19thC battle reports to this site so that I can get that section finished and move on.
What have I actually been doing?
I've actually spent a very pleasant afternoon re-organising all my US forces for IABSM, amending the photo galleries of the Rifle and Tank Companies to bring them properly up to date, and finally getting around to constructing the gallery for the Armoured Rifle Company. Seems like I need an awful lot of half-tracks of the M2 and M3 variety, along with a handful of 1.5 ton trucks!
Five down, an awful lot to go!
But seriously, I do think that properly cataloging your troops is an important part of our hobby...a part that's sometimes sadly neglected. I have a master spreadsheet of all my figures (all 15,000 of them) by period and unit, which also notes how many times each unit has been on the tabletop. Dividing one figure by the other then gives you a master efficiency quotient, so that I can see which of my armies are the most cost-efficient!
Then I have OB workbooks, where I list each force I've built by order of battle. This is really useful when playing pick-up games, as I can just print out a force's OB, then add or subtract units as required. The galleries on this website are a reflection of these spreadsheets: so far they're complete for my WW2, Vietnam and sci-fi armies, but I haven't even started on my 19th century, ancients or fantasy collections yet!
Thousands of them? Let me just have a look at my spreadsheets and I'll tell you exactly how many there are!
Finally, and perhaps most importantly, I keep a workbook with how I painted each army in it. Very useful when adding extra units to an already existing force.
Nerd?
Maybe so, but then to me the spreadsheets are all part of the fun!
As some of you may know, I have started putting together a company of US Paras, plus supports, in 15mm.
The MMG Platoon proved a successful test paint, so I decided to bite the bullet and get on with the first of the big paints, the first platoon.
Being a bit sick of painting Battlefront figures, and wanting to spread my cash between manufacturers, I decided to get my first Airborne platoon from Forged in Battle. I like their vehicles, their infantry is metal, and some of the poses I'd seen in various images looked very good.
Well that platoon is now finished, and very pleased I am too. The poses proved excellent, the castings were almost totally flash free, and there wasn't a dud figure in the pack (Battlefront take note!). Here they are:
As you can see, they have taken the paint very well indeed.
For those interested, my painting method was as follows:
Phew! That's twenty-five steps for each of the 32 men (three squads of ten and two Big Men), but worth it as I'm very pleased with the results. Here's my favourite figure:
Now onto to platoon two, for which I have figures from Battlefront.
Another of Mark Luther's amazing 6mm games of IABSM: this time with action on the Eastern Front as panzers try to battle their way through to a vital road junction. Who will win the fight amongst the sunflowers?
Click here or on the picture below to find out.
Apologies for the few days without a post: been a bit busy in the real world!
Anyhow, to return with a bang, here's another IABSM battle report from Brooklyn Wargaming, with a game taken from the Where the hell have you been, boys? D-Day scenario pack: cracking stuff!
Click here or on the picture, below to see the full report.
The second of three AARs from the Stipcisz Hussars in Belgium. It's only a teeny-tiny one, but included for completeness!
Click on the pic to see more.
Trawling through the Internet, I came across the website of the Stipsicz Hussars, a group of war gamers from the Nederlands with a few TFL AARs in their records.
Here's the first of them: a snippet of action in the Western Desert. Click here or on the photo below to see the full report, and here to go the the Hussars' website itself.
Another tank-on-tank game set in the Western Desert and taken from the Operation Compass scenario pack. This time it's a clash between Italians and British tanks at Mechili.
Click here or on the picture below to see the full report.
I'm slowly working my way through loading mark Luther's 6mm IABSM battle reports onto the site. Some lovely terrain, so worth doing properly.
Here's another from 2008: it's the early war, and French and German reconnaissance units clash near Juniville.
Click here, or on the picture below, to see more...
I've taken the plunge and finally decided to get myself a company-plus-supports of US Paras.
I think it was watching Band of Brothers again that did it: it was either the Paras or early war Poles, and somehow seeing Dick Winters and co. charging round Normandy and onto Germany tipped the balance.
It also means I'll be able to play the multitude of available scenarios involving US Airborne forces using the proper figures!
Here are my first efforts: the Light Machine Gun Section:
The figures are from Forged in Battle: I decided I needed a change from Battlefront and Peter Pig, and so decided to give FiB a go. It's not a conversion though: I've only got the machine gunners, above, and a single platoon of infantry so far. We'll have to see how the first platoon paints up before deciding which manufacturer will have the privilege of providing platoons two and three!
Uniform-wise, they are portrayed in the drab uniforms worn for D-Day. I think this provides a more iconic image than the more green gear worn later on in the war. You'll note that I have painted on the eagle insignia: I did try using those teeny-tiny transfers, but they proved too fiddly to manage, despite Model Dads video tutorial.
Right: on to the first platoon now...
Another cracking battle report from Brooklyn Wargaming, with an AAR dealing with the second game in their Heroes of Omaha and Panzer Lehr campaign set in France in 1944.
After a narrow American victory in game one (see the Hauts-Vents AAR), the Germans counter-attack!
Click here or on the picture below to see what happens...
Brooklyn Wargaming have some fantastic IABSM AAR on their website, which can be reached by clicking here.
They have generously agreed that I can add them to the Vis Lardica site so, for your enjoyment, here's a battle report from the end of last year featuring a game set near Hauts-Vents in France, 1944.
Click here, or on the picture below, to see the full report.
If you have an AAR for one of the TooFatLardies company-sized games (IABSM, CDS, Q13) do feel free to submit it for inclusion to admin@vislardica.com. No need for anything fancy: just a few pics and words, or even just pics or words, will do.
And if you've enjoyed this AAR and any other bits of content on the site, please comment, like or, if you own your own website, put a link to Vis Lardica on that.
Cheers
R
Time to go back...back...back in time to 2007, and an AAR for IABSM from The Mad Padre rescued from the depths of the Internet.
It's France 1940, and the French are counter-attacking. Click on the pic to see more.
Saturday morning before the rugby saw a great game of I Ain't Been Shot, Mum take place as the Benson boys and I played the first scenario of the Vyazma or Bust! campaign.
Click here or on the picture below to see how the game unfolded. Be warned: it was bloody, very bloody!
Here's the third and, for the moment, final AAR from The Wargaming Addict played on a wargaming engine as opposed to the tabletop.
This time the Addict picks a scenario from the Blenneville or Bust! scenario pack, set in Normandy: the opening game involving the clash of two recon forces just west of Pierrecourt.
Click here or on the picture below to see the whole report
As those who follow this blog will know, I have recently painted a squadron of plastic British A13 cruiser tanks from Zvezda in desert colours. I was naturally keen to get them onto the tabletop, so invited my regular opponent, Neil, round for a battle.
I'd determined to use one of the two 'all tank' scenarios from the Operation Compass scenario pack (written by me and available to purchase from all good retailers: well, here and the TFL main site!) so carefully printed off the pages we'd need for Scenario 10: The Road From Fort Capuzzo.
It wasn't until I'd laid out the terrain and turned to getting the figures out that I realised that Scenario 10 doesn't feature any A13s: just A9s and A10s!
No bother: the newly painted tanks will have to wait their turn as my BEF tanks demonstrate what they can do re-tasked to the desert.
So click here or on the picture below to see what happens when Rae Leakey and his tank squadron drive towards the road from Fort Capuzzo in December 1940: an interesting game that takes place up in the blue in the dead of the night...
Rae Leaky up in the blue in the dead of the night
Here's the second of the three promised IABSM AARs from The Wargaming Addict.
Keen to make up for his previous performance, the Addict plays the same scenario again, but this time with very different results.
Click here or on the picture below to see another great battle played out not on the tabletop, but on the Battleground Engine.
All this posting of AARs has made me quite jealous for a game: lucky I have one tomorrow night!
Oh, and I'll update the painting challenge this weekend too.
Although I have occasionally played computer wargames or wargames moderated by a computer, I have primarily always been a wargames who games on the tabletop with figures, dice and a rulebook.
There's something immensely satisfying about pushing lead around a tabletop loaded with brilliant terrain, and nothing beats the feeling of dice in the hand ready to roll just what you need!
Tabletop gaming, however, does require an awful lot of room.
I, for example, have only recently reclaimed my wargaming room from its sabbatical as a 'kids playroom', and so am very familiar with the effort involved in having to clear the living room, set everything up, and then put it all away before the house can resume normal function.
The Wargaming Addict has apparently solved that problem with the use of the Battleground Gaming Engine. You can visit his site by clicking here, or more simply read the AAR describing his first foray into non-figure gaming using IABSM from December 2013 by clicking on the picture, below.
Interesting stuff...with two more AARs to follow over the next week or so.
Martin981463 posted some great photographs of a recent IABSM game onto the TFL Yahoo group, but Yahoo being Yahoo, the pictures came out in all the wrong order and without the captions.
Here are the pictures again, carefully organised into a gallery, and with captions included.
Click here or on the picture, below, to see the storyboard unfold: enjoy!
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.
