The early war period is my favourite, so I'm very happy to post another great battle report from Mark Luther set in Poland in 1939, and featuring a great looking armoured train.
Click on the picture below to see all:
Aphid "Flycatcher" Tanks move into action
Over the last few weeks, I have been working on updating all the Q13 army lists. In addition to the usual tweaks, there are two major changes to format. These are the addition of a section for Tabletop Stats, and the addition of a section for Points.
Tabletop Stats gives you all the info you need about the army when actually playing Q13. So each type of infantry squad has the usual figures/Actions table, but now also has how many dice and what modifiers you make when firing, its movement over different terrain types, its saves against hits, its anti-tank capacity etc. Vehicles have the same sort of info, but their firing is defined as what dice you roll vs infantry, and what dice you roll vs other vehicles, and so on and so forth.
This is in response to people saying that because Q13 covers ANYTHING that's possible in a sci-fi setting, it can sometimes be hard to remember the SPECIFICS that apply to the particular squad you're currently commanding...which is a fair point, well made!
Vornid Chitin Bio-Tank moves past a KO'd walker
Hopefully, once you've downloaded one of my lists, or built your own and filled in the Stats section, you should now be able to play without having to look anything up...perhaps even without the Quick Reference sheet provided in the rulebook.
The Points section does exactly what it says on the tin: it just lists the points value for each type of infantry squad, for each vehicle etc.
Should make life easier for those people who like to use points when building their forces.
On top of the above, there are all sorts of little tweaks to the existing lists. The Aphids get their wheeled APCs; the Chuhuac, their Vasseth Strike Tanks etc. As I've said many times before, the lists are designed to be updated on a regular basis as you add new units or decide that the way you've defined an existing unit needs changing.
Not all the lists are updated yet: most are, but not all. If you can click to get the pdf, then the list is updated. If you can't, then it isn't...but will be soon! I have updated the Excel Blank.
A bit of a change this time: an AAR from the Stipsicz Hussars with an encounter set in French Indochina in 1951.
The game uses IABSM rather than CDS, perhaps appropriate given the period, and features a huge 6m table. A French column begins the game at either end, and heads towards a Point d'Appui in the middle. Needless to say, neither column nor PA escapes the attention of the Vietminh.
Click on the pic below to see all.
More I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! action from Joe Patchen: with a move to the Eastern Front in 1942.
The Soviets must break through the German lines. Will they do it? Click on the pic below to find out...
A cheeky Friday update to clear the decks before a busy weekend. Today, in no paticular order, we have:
Today's pictures are from Steve, his ships; and Carole's sci-fi kit...
468 points' worth of Wizzkids ships
Some nice kit from Critical Mass Games via Carole
Points will be added to the scorecard tonight or tomorrow.
Another unit for my Six Day War Egyptians: the Reconnaissance Platoon consisting of three PT-76 amphibious tanks.
Amphibious, eh? Very useful in the desert!
Right: back to the infantry now!
I have been trying to use scenarios other than those I've written myself, so my latest game of I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! featured a game taken from the TFL Summer Special 2005 based on the Royal Tanks scenario adapted from Skirmish Campaigns by Tom Ballou.
The game was quite short: involving me being completely tactically outsmarted and looking certain to lose until a sudden and very major reverse turned the tables on my opponent with devastating effect...on both his chances of winning and his temper!
Click on the picture below to see all:
I'm gradually getting to the end of that section of the lead mountain devoted to the UAR or Egyptian forces for the Six Day War. Here's the second infantry platoon, leaving only one more infantry platoon, the Company HQ, finishing the recon tanks, and then what odd bits of support I decide that I need.
The only real pain is the transport for the infantry company. Getting enough of the right sort of truck is going to be expensive: so I shall have to wait until the next Battlefront 40%-off sale!
Anyway, here's another twenty-six infantrymen, painted as before:
Another great write up from the gaming table of Joe Patchen. The Americans are driving forward into occupied France: their next obstacle a small village bordering the road they are moving down. Is it safe to advance? Or is the village crawling with the enemy?
Click on the picture below to see all:
Loads of entries again today: excellent work everybody!
In no particular order, we have:
Today's pictures are one from Mr Clarke (I know which side my bread is buttered) and one from Mr Ralls:
He didn't say who they were, but here are some nice 28s from Mr Clarke
And here are Jason Ralls' Teutonic Knights. I do love a bit of Teutonic Knight!
A change of scale now, with another 6mm I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! battle report from Mark Luther.
This features the third game played on the same "Operation Epsom" table: an encounter that saw the Tigers coming out to play!
Click on the picture below to see all:
The third I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! after action report from Joe Patchen to be showcased this week.
This was a cracking clash between German and American forces near Anzio, but not at "Wildcat to Whale" time: much later on in 1944.
Click on the pic below to see all...
Well, I think a returning player rather than a brand-new one: Art Crime Productions.
ACP Games produce a small but beautifully realised range of sci-fi figures that they say are "nominally based on 15mm", with the final size dependent on the designs.
So far they have some what they call Characters, mostly infantry of a couple of different types; some rather nice looking Vehicles; and the start of a Makat Empire range that looks definitely worth investigating.
Here's one of their tanks: the Spartan:
It seems like the end of January has driven you all out of hibernation: lots of entries submitted over the last few days.
In no particular order, we have:
As usual, Scorecard will be updated tonight.
Today's pics? Treadhead's Napoleonics, Mr Luther's 'planes (well, some of them); and Derek's Guerillos:
Napoleonic British infantry from Treadhead
Continuing the Napoleonic theme, Derek Hodge's Spanish guerillos
And just a few of Mr Luther's 1/285 aircraft
Another excellent battle report from Joe Patchen: this time set on the Eastern Front in 1942.
It's July 1942 and the Russians need to break the siege of Leningrad. A new batch of brand new American lend-lease armor has made its way through U-boat infested waters to Murmansk and down by rail to the battle area. Into the maelstrom it is thrown...click on the picture below to see all.
Here's another new 15mm sci-fi figure manufacturer: White Dragon Miniatures.
Their first releases are for what their range background calls the Marine Tactical Units of the Earth Exploration Fleet. There are some nice looking infantry and tanks, and some enormous anthropomorphic walkers as well.
The infantry are exquisite: highly detailed and nicely animated. The tanks look fairly standard to me (like squashed modern MBTs) but I am loving the Multiple Rocket Launcher System and Mobile Gun System: very innovative. The walkers...well, most of you will know what I think of giant humanoid robot-types with BFGs! That said, I have rather taken a fancy to the Armadillo Support Mech, and will probably buy a few to use with one of my existing armies.
No walk down by the river for me today: far too cold, wet and windy. I shall just have to stay in and update the painting challenge, and then paint a few figures myself.
Today's entries, in no particular order are:
Today's pics are from the Double G, his Anglo-Danish, and then Carole's Kra'vak alien tanks, as I'm in a Q13 mood at the moment...
Great battle report for I Ain't Been Shot, Mum! from Joe Patchen featuring a German assault on an American held town.
Click on the picture below to see the whole thing:
Incidentally, this AAR hasn't appeared elsewhere on the web: Joe sent me the images and words to be loaded specifically onto the Vis Lardica site. Anyone else who wants to do the same for any of the TFL company-sized games (IABSM, CDS, Q13) should feel free to follow suit. Prompt service guaranteed! E-mail me at admin@vislardica.com with the "deets" (as my daughters would say).
So some of you may have noticed that I've added Google AdSense to a couple of pages of the Vis Lardica site. Not exactly ready to retire yet on the proceeds (so far I've made enough to buy about half a 15mm tank!) but it's certainly quite an amusing journey.
AdSense looks at a combination of the content on the page and the cookies associated with you, the visitor, before deciding what ads to serve. Usually that means there's advertising for retirement products (oh, we are just so old, us wargamers) or online computer games: not a bad match.
Yesterday, however, you may have noticed that I posted about my latest painted unit: a UAR or Egyptian infantry platoon for the 6DW.
What advertising do I see today?
Yup: "Date Arab Women" from arabmatchmaking.com!
Remind me never to post about Big CoC*
R
*Big Chain of Command
Now that I had broken the back of the vehicles needed for my UAR (Egyptian) force for the 6DW, it was time to start on the infantry. Platoons of twenty-six figures: three squads of eight plus a two-man Blindicide team.
These were standard Battlefront 15s, and painted up very nicely. Undercoat in Army Painter Skeleton Bone, then wash with GW Agrax Earthshade, then highlight with Foundry Raw Cotton (helmets); Vallejo Sand Yellow (Uniforms); with webbing in two shades of grey from GW.
Only another two platoons and the Company HQ to go!
You can see the rest of my Six Day War Egyptians by clicking here.
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
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