Ton Cane and friends recently fought the Mechili scenario from the Operation Compass pack using 10mm miniatures.
The game is a tank-vs-tank battle, with the Italians actually attacking for a change.
Click on the picture below to see how the game went:
Always nice to see some of the IABSM scenario packs in use, especially "Operation Compass", as it's one of my favourites.
Fellow gamer Yarkshire Gamer is working his way through the pack but using his own house rules rather than I Ain't Been Shot, Mum.
Click on the pick below to see his latest AAR...
It's been far too long since we saw one of Mark Luther's amazing 6mm IABSM after action reports...but I'm pleased to be able to say that the drought is over.
Mark played one of my scenarios - Wave Goodbye - taken from the 2011 TFL Summer Special: a French armor counterattack is hitting the flank of a German panzer column in an area east of the Ardennes in May 1940.
Click on the pic below to see all:
A very quick battle report from James Manto, taken from the IABSM Facebook Group.
Here, James gets a chance to get all his lovely new Soviet stuff onto the tabletop for the first time.
Click on the pic below to see all.
Those of you who live in the UK may be aware that the Wyevale Garden Centres always sell off their winter model Christmas trees in early January (see previous post here). This year, I’d taken full advantage of the sale and bought several packets worth, and then added a new snow mat from Tiny Wargames to put them on. Now all I needed was an excuse to get everything onto the tabletop, and a game this Saturday just gone gave me the opportunity to do so.
As I seemed to have bought lots of trees, it would need to be a big game. Out came the extra bit of table, giving me an 8’ by 5’ playing area, on went the new mat, and on went the new trees. The result: a winter wonderland of epic proportions.
This was to be a Soviet/German encounter battle set sometime in and around January 1944. As I found myself short of time in the preparation stages, I used the troop lists from one of the scenarios from the IABSM Bashnya or Bust scenario pack. A couple of the scenarios give listings of a re-inforced company for each side from which the players pick a number of platoons. As this was to be a big game, I used those lists but gave each side the entire list, not just a proportion of the list.
See how we got on by clicking on the picture, below...
I was browsing the 'net, as one does, and came across David Burden's excellent blog Converj.
On there was an equally excellent account of his first game of IABSM: a solo game split across four or five posts and using the North of Caen scenario from the rulebook.
I hope he doesn't mind (as I haven't found a way of e-mailing him) but I've merged his posts into one AAR for you all to enjoy.
Click on the pic below to see all, and make sure you visit David's blog to see the other good stuff on there.
Great battle report from the Small Sagas blog featuring a game using one of the Normandy scenarios included in the IABSM v3 rulebook to an encounter on the eastern front.
Click on the pic below to see all...
Here's a great looking battle report from the Devon Wargames Group, playing the Over the Hill scenario produced as a free PDF download by Rich Clarke the author and co-partner of Too Fat Lardies during the early incarnation of the rule set and easily converted to the latest version of the rules.
The scenario along with others is available to download from the Lardies Yahoo Group, which is well worth joining if you are interested in the best WWII Company level rule sets available!
https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Toofatlardies/info
Click on the pic below to see all:
Here's a great solo AAR from James Mantos' excellent Rabbits In My Basement blog.
Inspired by reading the Cinderella Campaign and the dash across France in Sept 1944, featuring the 4th Canadian Armoured Division, James plays a Sherman-heavy assault on a German position.
Click on the pic below to see more:
One of the great things about the IABSM Facebook page is that it encourages people to post a few photos and comments about their games, even if they don't have the time to write up a full AAR.
Sometimes, however, all the various bits and pieces posted on FB about a particular game add up to what is effectively a full AAR: a group effort if you like!
Mike Whitaker, for example, posted a note about an incredibly lucky shot in a recent club game: an Elefant spotted despite cover, distance and the weather, and then dispatched by a single shell from a 17pdr, despite a considerable difference in Strike and Armour values.
The German player, Gary Martin, then replied: giving an outline of what happened in the rest of the game. Put the two together, and Lord Salisbury's your uncle...
Click on the picture below to see how I've stitched the various posts and pictures together into an AAR.
Here's a quick AAR from James Tree, taken from the IABSM Facebook page, featuring a recent eastern front game of IABSM played solo.
The Germans are defending a village as the Soviets move in for the attack. Click on the pic below to see who will triumph.
Here's a quick battle report from Ioannis Pavlidis, take from a recent post on the IABSM Facebook page.
It's 1941. A unit of Soviet soldiers has fallen back in disarray in the face of the overwhelming German assault. The German spearhead has now moved on, leaving a force behind to mop up the battered Soviets, who have fallen back to an abandoned barracks not far from the Niemirov Ferry crossing.
Click on the picture below to find out what happened.
Fellow Lardie Desmondo Darkin takes his panzers for a spin in the first scenario from the Bashnya or Bust! scenario pack set against Operation Bagration in 1944.
See how he gets along by clicking on the picture, below...
Here's something we haven't had for some time: an after action report for Charlie Don't Surf!
This is taken from the CDS Facebook group, and involves a small force of US troops conducting a sweep through a village searching for rice and weapon caches.
Click on the picture below to see all:
Here's a battle report from a game I played in last weekend, using the Tally Ho! scenario from the Operation Sealion scenario pack.
The report is not written by me, but by Dave...who had the unfortunate task of referring a game in which I was participating. John and Mark played the Brits trying to re-claim a small corner of the UK for Queen and country; I played the dastardly Hun seeking to expand the Third Reich over England's green and pleasant land.
Click on the pic below to see how it all turned out...
Desmondo Darkin posts another game report on the IABSM Facebook site.
The Brits are advancing through Normandy, the Germans seeking to hold them up. A devastating pre-game stonk is just a preamble to the Germans getting a thorough spanking!
Click on the pic below for the AAR:
Although just being published now, this AAR covers my last game of 2017.
It's the Libyan/Egyptian border in September 1940, and the Italians have finally got their act together and invaded. A huge column snakes its way down the desert strip towards Egypt. In their way are the Coldstream Guards and their supports.
Find out how the Italians did by clicking on the picture, below.
Last Friday, The Centurions Wargame Group played host to fellow Lardy Mike Whitaker, who volunteered to run a demo game of IABSM. The game was held at The Source Comics and Games in the Twin Cities.
A company of infantry with armor support on each side provided an afternoon of great entertainment. Click on the pic below to see all.
Here's a great AAR from the IABSM Facebook Group, posted by Desmondo Darkin and friends.
In a fantastic-looking game in 20mm, the Canadians attempt to push through German defences on the outskirts of Caen.
Click on the picture below to see all:
On 8th September 1939, German Gebirgsjaegers moving along the Carpathian mountain range bumped into a unit of Polish Border Protection Corps mountain troops near the Dukla Pass. After a short battle, the Poles withdrew, leaving the pass open for the Gebirgsjaeger to continue their advance.
That was the background to scenario #39: The Dukla Pass, taken from my just-published scenario booklet, The September War, Part 2: another thirty of so scenarios for IABSM covering the German invasion of Poland in September 1939.
The game would involve both sides wrestling for control of two objectives, with victory going to side that controlled both objectives on any appearance of the Tea Break card.
Click on the picture below to see who triumphed in the two games we had, and why one of them ended in a Steward's Inquiry!
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.
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