Sunday, June 09, 2013

Operation Market Larden - A Day of Lard at Wyvern Wargamers.

Saturday saw the first formal out of the RJW Project at our club event Operation Market Larden, the plan was to have an open day devoted to Richard clarke's excellent Too Fat Lardies rules, the day did not disappoint, over 40 gamers, with 8 different games on offer including the forthcoming Chain of Command hosted by the man himself.

The day had a different feel to some of our previous events such as the Annual Saga event, the attendee's were very much more the "fun" gamer rather than some of the competition players who generally turn out for other events... I expected nothing less given the nature of Rich's rules... 

We have some learn's in terms of the next Lard Day, the Chain of Command rules were hugely popular, so we need to think about how this is balanced out next time.

I was able to put on Two Mud & Blood games during the day hosting two chaps who had made the trip up from from Bristol Steve & Craig. Great to meet fellow gamers who have the same approach to the hobby as we do. Thanks for coming along guys.

Steve's Blog can be found here. Wargaming Addict.

One of our guy's had done an excellent job of scratch building a complete section of trench and some great barrage markers for his WW1 project, but they were perfect for this encouter and an absolute pleasure to fight over.

On to the Action.
Game One.

The Action is set around the Battle of Murken 1905, the very end of the Russian line, the trenches are not extensive, the troops on both sides thinly spread as the main fighting is happening several miles to the West, but someone has to keep the opposition pinned.
Orders are for the Japanese to break into the Trench System in around 2 hours real time.



 The table view from the South, two lines of trenches with wire to their front.


View from the North with high Millet masking the flank and a compound securing the line.

 

The Blinds are deployed and both sides roll away looking to spot their prey.


The Japanese are spotted and rush forward, having committed 75% of their forces to a strong left hook flanking the Russian positions.


The Russian's line trenches looking to pour fire into the advancing Japanese, figures largely from the excellent Tsuba Miniatures.


The Russian's had checked the Japanese advance placing the bulk of their force to the left of the trench system and supported by a HMG to bolster their defences.


Yet more Russian's fill the rear trench works.



 The Japanese press on, but begin to pick up Shock points as the they press the Russian left. A section deploys in the Millet field pinning the Russian's in their trenches.


The Tree line serves to slow the Japanese attack and despite a number of valiant charges they are unable to break into the Russian lines.

A marginal victory to the Russians.

Game Two

A very different affair the Russian's concerned about the left flank had strengthen it substantially, but were caught cold and coupled with a poor run of cards which restricted their movement were unable to bring their numbers to bear before the Japanese broke into the trenches.



Russian Infantry line the forward trenches.
 

Once again the Japanese sweep forward, using the additional "Banzi" card which provides them with a bonus move to close with the trench line before the Russians can bring sufficient fire down on them to slow the advance.


The Russian's attempt to rush forward additional forces to cut off this attack, but Friction and Hesitant Troop Cards make the advance a slow process. Reinforcements from Copplestone Castings Back of Beyond Figure range.
 

The Russian lines split in two.


Japanese in the trenches.


Charging down the trench line they catch the Russian defenders cold who rout form their position as the Japanese have over 4x the attack dice of the defenders.


Having hardly caught their breath and hindered by 6 points of shock they are charged by Chinese Honghuzi Bandits who force them to flee to the rear of the trench system, unable to recover for the rest of the game.


Forced to counter attack their own trench, the Russian's suffer the same fate as the Japanese in the first encounter.

Victory to the Japanese.

A cracking couple of games, unfortunately I fear they have only served to add to the painting backlog as I now have a list of "extra's" needed for the next encounter....

19 comments:

  1. A day of Lard sounds like a great day and your games look great.

    I'll actually be moving to Glouestershire in a few months, so would be very interested in future events like this or just coming up for a game or two every so often.

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    Replies
    1. The more the merrier, we have a few guy's who come up from Gloucester for our club nights so you will be in good company. If you join our forum we can always sort you out with a game.
      I will put the link on my reply below.
      Cheers
      Stu
      http://wargamers.worcester-county.org/

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    2. Cheers Stu, I'll join up and keep an eye out as moving date approaches!

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  2. We certainly enjoyed the good natured banter Stu, something which we are prone to in our own games and at times ours can get a bit lewd though!!! Great to meet other gamers who enjoy 'playing the game' in all aspects with a win being the icing on the cake. If only all gamers were like ourselves...

    I'm glad your photos really show your figures off in the best light as they were really very nicely painted. The scenery was wonderfull as well. Look forward to meeting you again at some point in the future.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Steve, always good to know people enjoy coming along. Started following your own blog, I will be sure to keep you guy's advised of future outing.
      Cheers
      Stu

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  3. Great games! Looks you had a lot of fun there!

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    Replies
    1. Cheers AI, looking over the Wargamer's Taxonomy certainly a very social day... :-)
      Cheers
      Stu

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  4. Looks like you all had fun. With luck maybe I will be able to make the next event.

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    1. club's next week Mark if you are free.... you know you want to :-)

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  5. Hi Stu,

    Thanks for the game. Thoroughly enjoyed the scenario despite getting our arses kicked by the Russians (that dammed wood!). Definately would be interested in coming along to any other similar days and the prospect of a CofC campaign sounds great.

    As discussed yesterday, if your interested my blog can be found at: http://www.wargames.blog.co.uk . Currently lots of 10mm Ancients and Medieval, but this is soon to be updated with WW2 in prepartaion for the release of CofC.

    Cheers, and thanks again

    Craig
    Tiny Terrain Models

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Craig always nice to put a face to a blog, that is some serious skill in 10mm, Thanks for coming along I will keep you posted of future events.
      Cheers
      Stu

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  6. Looks like it was a grand day out Stu. Sounds like you had some great games going on and the pictures look superb.
    Cheers,
    Pat.

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  7. Great to meet you yesterday. I thought your game was excellently presented

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    1. Thanks Tim, just started to follow your blog, definitely something we will be running again.
      Cheers
      Stu

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  8. That sounds like a really fun day. You're games look excellent Stuart.
    Rod

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    Replies
    1. It certainly was Rod, very different from events we have run in the past. Certainly one for the future.
      Cheers
      Stu

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  9. Great looking game, very nice pictures!
    Phil

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    Replies
    1. Cheers Phil probably one of the best gaming days for a long while...
      All the best.
      Stu

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