WORLARD 6 and STAR WARS DAY

May the 4th, Star Wars Day (or bad pun day!), was the date for the return of the club's annual WorLard event; a day dedicated to games from the TooFatLardies (or associated Reisswitz  Press).

Our last WorLard day was in 2019 and this was our first return since the pandemic. Although, slightly scaled down from previous years, the event was very well supported by club members. Six games were on offer, all put on by club members or, in one case, an ex-member. All the games were played twice, with morning and afternoon sessions.

I fully intended to take some photos but, as usual, became so involved umpiring my own game that I failed in this. I did, however, take snaps of all the games during the morning  set up. 

Somewhere on a table far far away. 15mm Star Wars (Chain of Command).

10mm Normandy (O Group)

Allied armour in difficulty (O Group)

1/144 scale, B17 bomber box under attack (Bag the Hun)

54mm Carlist Wars (Sharp Practice)

54mm Crimean War (Sharp Practice)

28mm American Civil War (Pickett's Charge)

The day was a very relaxed affair, with post game beers in a local pub and a splendid curry evening in Durham centre.

What more could one want? Let's hope for another event in 2025. I'm already planning my next game just in case.

DEAR DIARY

 It seems that I have been remiss in updating the blog; I don't seem to have posted since last summer! Fortunately, Uriah, our roving reporter from Cyprus, has stepped in and posted several game reports whenever he's back in Blighty.

That's a shame, as the whole purpose of this blog was as a personal wargames diary; I find that's it really useful to look back and past games and projects as inspiration for current projects. I think there are three main reasons for this lacuna. Firstly, it takes time to put blog posts together. Secondly, we've been playing a lot of games using smaller scale figures, which just aren't very photogenic. Thirdly, I find that in a good game I get so wrapped up in playing that I simply forget to take any photographs.

So, with that in mind, here's 'Wot I did on my holiday'.

My last real post was August 2023, chronicling my solo 'What a Cowboy' campaign. This was followed immediately by a second campaign at the club, narrated by Uriah.

We then moved on to some excellent Anglo-Zulu Wars games, using Firelock Games' 'Blood and Steel'. Once again recounted by Uriah.

With Uriah moving on to the ACW, I continued with the Firelock Games stable and ran some great 'Blood and Plunder' games. Unfortunately, over three games I think I only managed about two photos.

Moving on from the skirmish level gaming we moved on to battalion level WW2, with TooFatLardies / Reisswitz Press 'O Group'. We played this using 10mm figures and ran scenarios in both Normandy and the Western Desert. Unfortunately,  I only took snaps of the terrain for Normandy!

December saw a return to WW1 and a 'big push' on the painting front. I finally gave in to a long held temptation and bought some 28mm figures for Gallipoli and repainted and rebased a moderately large 15mm collection for the same theatre.

Woodbine Turks - work in progress

Woodbine Royal Naval Division - work in progress

15mm Turks - repaint and rebase

15mm Empire - repaint and rebase in progress

Uriah was back for a short Christmas break, so we ended the year with a couple of 28mm Gallipoli skirmish games, using 'Blood and Valor'.

As a Christmas treat, I bought myself two 10mm forces for the Western Desert. They were largely painted by Boxing Day!

Sticking with Firelock Games, we started 2024 with a game of 'Blood and Crowns'.

In January, I got to field my newly revamped 15mm WW1 collection. We played several Gallipoli themed games using 'Square Bashing'.

February was to be naval themed, with 17th century fleet actions. We tried 'General-at-Sea' and 'Rolling Thunder'. Both rulesets use ships mounted in multiples, representing squadrons, giving the potential for some very large fleet actions. 

It was then a return to the Western Desert and I got to field my new Christmas toys in some games of 'Rommel'.

My birthday game this year was a solo game of 'Oak and Iron'. A great game with a very clever system - with the bonus that it fits on the kitchen table.

In March we moved on to some more Sam Mustafa games, with an old favourite - 'Maurice'. We played in 10mm with some Seven Years War figures by Pendraken.

Continuing the Sam Mustafa theme, we moved on to Napoleonics with 'Blucher'. This time in 6mm.

April saw us preparing for the return of the clubs annual TooFatLardies games day - WorLard (our first since the great plague). 

We started with a game of 'Bag the Hun' in 1/144 scale and the USAF over Germany.

Then keeping the WW2 theme - in almost the same scale (10mm) we rolled out 'O Group' for a game set in Normandy.

So, dear diary, that brings us up to date. Hopefully, we'll have some more pictures from WorLard after the coming weekend.

Blood and Crowns at Scratchy Bottom

King of the Hill at Scratchy Bottom.

Lord Farthingdale has advanced from his castle at Bumburg, via Lower end only to encounter the enemy at Scratchy Bottom. 
The forces of Fitz-Quilp, the vile hunchback, obsessive tile collecting  Sheriff of Midshire has emerged from the Nunnery of St Juggs where he was stealing tiles, with his forces and marched straight on Scratchy Bottom.  Whoever can hold the village will win this fight.

The view from the Earl of Waldrige lines.  The Sheriff's men took the objective immediately and we had to fight for it.

The vulnerable left flank.

I prop up the I get with Men at Arms.

Over on our right we face off the Scots archers

And the Scots do well to hold up all of those points oppposite

I admit that I went a little impetuous and charged my retinue in, full throttle!  It went back and forward for the rest of the game.

Lord De Quincy charges his retinue in as well.  The fight over the objective is savage.  

My Noble is captured!  

The Hobelar charge is seen off.

And my spears brace against the Men at Arms.  They ounce, but I'm the first to admit mistakes were made.

After the event I pointed up and discovered that the Scots were seriously outpointed.  We will have to sort that out for multi player games.  For the first run through though I thought these rules were magnificent.  Probably my favourite period.

Great stuff.