A Day of Lard

Canadian Lardies have been knocking about the idea of a Too Fat Lardies themed games day for a couple of years. Saturday one finally happened thanks to the efforts of Chris Robinson (@TheLegendaryNoiseMachine on Twitter) and Barnaby Ore.

The first Lard, Eh? was held in Hamilton at the Royal Hamilton Light Infantry Veterans Association hall, which is the same venue as the super fun Broadsword gaming days that I can never seem to get to because of scheduling conflicts. 

I was happy to not pack a game and just pay my money and play, which gave me a chance to try Infamy, Infamy! in the morning and then O Group after lunch.

Some of the pictures are mine and some are reposted with permission from Barnaby. In all there were I think 10 games and 20-ish players, since a number of people canceled last minute over the weather (which did get ugly on my drive home). Which was too bad. If I'd known there was room I would have taken Weirdy Beardy along as co-pilot and navigator.

Infamy, Infamy! was quite interesting. A classic British tribesmen versus Romans scenario. Romans need to get the cattle they have collected as tribute off the table. British have taken issue with this. Barbarians getting to attack from ambush and being concerned about Fervor versus the Romans leveraging their drill and armour was quite interesting.

Warriors charge out of ambush to thump the Auxiliaries

Angry youths throwing rocks at the authorities, starting a long lasting British tradition

View of some of the terrain

The fight is going well for the British! Sort of.

Oof!

Legionaries arrive but get charged by the British noble warriors

Things are getting shaky for the British!

But the British light cavalry were able to do an end run and lift the cattle and smash the Auxiliaries guarding them.

Here are some pics of a few of the other games that Barnaby shared on Facebook. Some are from the morning and some from the afternoon.

15mm Russo-Finnish War with I Ain't Been Shot, Mum

28mm War of 1812 Sharp Practice

Chain of Command

20mm ACW using Sharp Practice

What a Tanker

WW1 Air with Algernon Pulls It Off 

After lunch I got to play against the Mad Padre in a scenario set up by Brian using his 6mm collection. This was a historical scenario about the Algonquin Regiment's attack on Soitteville in August 1944. I'm trying to expand the bridgehead over the Seine and take Point 88 so that German FOOs will stop shelling the crossing points. Engineers haven't constructed a bridge or ferries yet, so I have no armoured support. I don't even have the battalion Carrier Platoon.

Brian is explaining something to me

German defenders of Soitteville

Trying to establish along the railway embankment

7 and 9 platoons charge in on the right

Meanwhile B Coy attacks from the left. Notice I've infiltrated a platoon to the rear of the town up in the woods. Totally sneaky move. Wasn't sure what to do with them though....

Finally getting D Coy up

Mike launches a counterattack on my flank which is barely held by the FOO and my attached Vickers MMG platoon

It was a fascinating game. Mike and I both felt like we were battalion commanders. But both noticed it was very easy to get sucked into the details of individual company firefights and throw all of your orders into those efforts and forget about the rest of your battle. I still had two companies to bring up, which once I remembered about them and got them forward I was able to extend my right and make Mike's position untenable.

I'd like to play more O Group. I just need people to play it with. It's a very different game which takes some thought to wrap your head around.

There was a curry dinner afterwards, but I was tired and wanted to be home. It was the best fun I've had for $10 in a long time. Plans are already being made for another one.

The Mad Padre's overview of the day is here.